Son of Athena
by Shinigami2530
Summary: When Lily and James Potter asked a goddess to grant them a child, they had no idea that their simple wish would have so many consequences, especially when that child is raised by a legendary witch long thought dead. Genius!Strong!Independent!Harry. Pairing: Harry/Silena. Rated mostly for language, but rating may change. Bashing of Ares, Dumbledore and a few Weasley.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: The following is a non-profit work of fan made fiction. Harry Potter is the property of J. K. Rowling. Percy Jackson and the Olympians is the property of Rick Riordan.**

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 _Warning 1: Personalities of a few (if not most) characters have been changed slightly or majorly to fit the story._

 _Warning 2: Majority of this story takes place in the PJO-universe, and features an extremely smart Harry, even amongst his own (half) siblings._

 _Warning 3: Expect a few clichés._

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Chapter One

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(31 Oct 1991)

Albus Dumbledore placed the bundle in his arms on the doorstep of a house. He knew it wasn't the best place for the baby sleeping in the bundle, but they were his only living relatives. The protection on him would not work unless he was with his blood-relatives, even if they may not treat him properly.

He had also placed letter with the baby, hoping that the residents of No. 4 Privet Drive would treat him as he, Dumbledore, hoped that they would.

He took a few steps back, allowing a giant man, Rubeus Hagrid, say goodbye to the baby. His other colleague and his right hand woman, Minerva Mcgonagall, was still telling him it was a bad idea, but it fit straight into Dumbledore's plans.

It would not do for the Boy-Who-Lived to be an arrogant, spoilt, no-good brat that he would no doubt become if he were to be placed in a magical household. And, he would come to Hogwarts weak and malleable, and not independent and strong, if he was raised here.

The three of them apparated away to Hogwarts, not noticing the lone owl watching them. While this may not raise any eyebrows - an owl gazing out in the night was a common sight - this particular owl was larger than any other owl on the planet. It had piercing stormy-gray eyes, white feathers with golden streaks, and an overall majestic appearance.

The owl flew over to the sleeping form of the baby, transforming into a woman upon reaching. The woman was undoubtedly beautiful, having long, dark hair, and eyes similar to her owl form. Her gaze was calculating, as if thinking more than a million thoughts at the same time. She was dressed in Greek battle armour, a spear and shield strapped to her back.

Athena picked her son up from the porch, bringing his small, sleeping body close to her chest. Her son, Hadrian Potter, was a survivor of the killing curse. While she was happy that he survived, it left a bitter-sweet sensation in her mind knowing that his parents, and perhaps the most intriguing mortals in Magical Britain, had crossed the river.

To her, Hadrian was special. He was based from two mortals - James and Lily Potter, who had managed to gain her attention in a local chess tournament she participated in. While one would expect her to play the ancient strategy game against someone like Garry Kasparov, she had lost a bet against Apollo. Thinking back on it, she should not have bet against the God of Prophecies on who was going to win the FIFA world cup last year. But the sun-burnt idiot was playing on her pride. As a result, she had to play chess in a local chess tournament in England. That was also the part of the bet.

When she reached the final round of the boring tournament, she had to fight off against a red-haired, emerald eyed woman called Lily Potter.

And she almost managed to beat Athena. Or rather a bored Athena who underestimated her foe.

But nonetheless, Athena was impressed by Lily, to the point that Athena revealed who she really was and granted her a wish.

Lily and her husband, James, who was also with her, both asked for a child. While she would have pulled I-am-a-virgin-goddess card, James Potter knew of her ability to create children from her mind, because he himself was a son of Hecate. And Athena had already promised them a wish.

So she agreed, and used her omnipresence to spend some time with the couple to get to know them better. She was further impressed by Lily's analytical and strategic mind, and James's mastery over magic. When she had gathered enough information on her child's future parents, she created Hadrian.

Athena was brought out of the flashback when Little Hadrian woke up in her arms. Eyes that were similar to her own stared back at her, but the ones on the young boy had a greenish tinge. It made them much more beautiful in her eyes. Perhaps she should add that to all her future children? No... Hadrian would be the only one. The gene that coded for eye colour could not be modified so as to put two colours in the same eye. It had only happened here because of his magic. Or she had done something to his genes that coded eye-colour without realizing it.

And besides, Athena was not the ones to play around with the human genome, even though she had already removed the short-sightedness of her son when he was in her mind. Since she raised the foetus in her mind, she could remove or modify genes that she felt would be detrimental to her child's well-being. She was also against making them into mutants like the X-men, for obvious reasons.

Any condition of the eye was amongst 'detrimental to my child' list, and hence was fixed.

She was still trying to fix the dyslexia without taking away the ability to read and write Ancient Greek.

Hadrian giggled in Athena's arms, causing her to smile. Which turned into a frown. She recognized the look in his eyes: recognition. That should not be possible; he had never seen her. She had sent him to his parents as soon as he was born, like she did with all her children. The only way he could have recognized her was through a portrait. And she knew the Potter Manor had very accurate portraits of the Gods. Of course, they were just paintings, and not the magical talking kind. But that wasn't possible; his memory shouldn't be that developed at this stage.

Unknown to her, the thought going through Harry's mind was: 'Look, Harry. This is the portrait of a very important woman who helped us. Your father and I have the honour of being her friend.'

Filing it away for later, she ran a finger over his lightning-shaped scar, lulling him to sleep. 'Someone trying to cheat death, huh? Oh well... It seems I will be owing Thanatos a favour.'

With that, Athena vanished into nothingness with her son.

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Athena (and Harry) appeared on a cold, desolate river bank. In front of the goddess was a house made from bones, skulls, and tombstones. This was the house of Thanatos, on the banks of Cocytus. The cold air didn't affect Athena much, but Harry shivered uncontrollably for a few seconds until Athena wrapped him up in a warmer blanket that was conjured within a thought's notice. Then he slept peacefully. As soon as he was notified about her presence, Thanatos walked out the front door.

He was a six-foot tall, buff man, but his face and body were covered in a dark robe. Athena knew this to be the robe he used to sleep (if he could, that is), if the 'PLEASE DO NOT DIE WHILE DEATH IS ASLEEP' written on his chest was any indication. His ever present scythe was draped over his back, the silvery black Stygian Iron blade of the scythe glowing softly, yet menacingly.

"Lady Athena," Thanatos said in a deathly rasp of a voice. "What do you require me for?"

"Take a look on my son's forehead, Thanatos," Athena replied.

Thanatos did so. And he did NOT like what he found. A soul shard?! That meant a mortal was trying to cheat him. _'CHEAT ME? THE GOD OF DEATH? I AM GOING TO - why is Athena glaring at me? Oh. The little one is crying._ ' Thanatos then realized that he was not only releasing a deathly aura that would have sent even the strongest of men and women crying, he was also thinking out loud. REALLY loud.

Athena was glaring daggers at Death, all the while comforting her son who was crying loudly from being woken up abruptly. How she did it Thanatos had no idea, and he did NOT want to find out. So he simply (and painlessly) extracted the soul shard from Harry's forehead, and walked (ran) back into his house, knowing that the Goddess of Wisdom was still glaring at him. He even forgot to send the shard into the Soul Regenerator(tm) to begin reconstruction of the soul as more and more shards would begin to come into his (Hades's) dominion.

Would it be insane if Thanatos feared Death right now?

Athena glared at Death's House one final time, before disappearing in a flash of light with her son, who was sleeping again in her arms.

* * *

In a luxurious penthouse in Manhattan, a young woman who was possibly in her twenties went around doing her nightly activities, such as brushing her teeth, taking a shower, and the like. She was quite attractive, with raven hair that flowed down her back, and a body to make underwear models green with envy. Her eyes were the same as that of her mother, Athena.

She was obviously rich; given how her furniture was made from the finest mahogany and the view outside was a beautiful picture-perfect Manhattan skyline, along with the geometry of Central Park. The utensils were either ceramic or silver, and the comfy-looking couches had the outer coat of authentic Italian leather.

While she was in a blue nightgown, she was not going to sleep just yet. They were airing a special show on a brilliant scientist and her own brother, Richard Feynman. He had, rather unfortunately, passed away three years ago, and the show was a sort of a documentary of him. There was no way she would miss something like this for the world.

Behind her were three portraits that were arguing amongst themselves. Yes. Portraits that were arguing. Or to be more accurate, the ones depicting two males were arguing while the lone female was playing peacemaker.

One of the two males was a regal looking man with short, but messy black hair and sky-blue eyes. He had a scar running down from his left eyebrow, across the bridge of his nose, and finally stopping on his right cheek. His attire consisted of red and gold armour with a red lion crest on his chest. His name was Godric Gryffindor, a son of Zeus, and the (self-proclaimed, yet accepted) leader of the Four Founders of Hogwarts.

The man he was arguing with had straight, shoulder-length jet black hair, and green eyes. His skin was pale enough to be confused with that of a vampire. His face held a sly look, and his eyes had a mischievous glint He wore simple green robes with snake-like patterns and his hands were depicted with three silver rings. On his neck sat a locket with a fancy-looking 'S'. His name was Salazar Slytherin, a son of Hermes, and a childhood friend (and rival) of Godric. He was also the most hated man in Magical Britain, for reasons he did not know. Seriously, they believed Godric, Helga and Rowena to be some sort of heroes, and him to be a muggle-hating megalomaniac. If that was the case, he wouldn't have been with those three, and Merlin would have cast him out of his tutelage a long time ago.

The third portrait depicted the only woman. She had long, blonde hair and warm, brown eyes held on a beautiful face. Her attire consisted of black and gold robes with a single badger in the center. Her name was Helga Hufflepuff, a daughter of Apollo. She was also the greatest medical witch to date, being able to cure even the most life-threatening injuries and diseases (that were known during her time) with just a wave of her wand.

Helga was currently trying to play peacemaker in the argument that was taking place between Salazar and Godric. They were arguing about what type of cheese tasted better: cheddar or cottage. No one bothered to point out that they didn't have bodies, and hence could not have possibly known the taste.

And where was the Fourth Founder, Rowena Ravenclaw, you may ask?

Why, she was the woman who owned the penthouse, and was switching on the TV. She was still alive because Hecate, the goddess of magic (amongst other things), had hired her as one of her servants, and was what she called to be a demi-immortal, i.e., she could still be killed, but she won't die due to natural causes.

The catch of this sugar-coated deal was that she had to remain a virgin. Of course, some might not consider this to be the bad thing.

Purity of the body was a requirement for a god/goddess to grant you agelessness. This was quite evident: most assumed that Artemis only gave such blessings to maidens. But there was a reason why she couldn't induct sexual assault victims or mothers with abusive husbands, etc., into her Hunters, and this was the reason. Artemis, by Ancient Law, could not grant them immortality, because their maidenhood, no matter how tragically, had been taken from them.

That was the same case with Rowena. She had to stay a virgin, or else she would be 'fired' and would become mortal again.

But it had gotten quite monotonous, given how the goddess was quite workaholic. So she had recently turned to praying to her mother for an opportunity to raise a child. It had been unanswered for the most part. Her contract with her Patron Goddess said that she could do so; as long as they were her own siblings. And besides, her job was only to help the Goddess connect better with her subjects, i.e., the wizards and witches. Not much to do there, except for to send a bi-monthly IM about how the wizarding world is faring.

And yes she had a contract with Hecate. Unlike Artemis, Hecate made her demi-immortal servants (or rather servant, given that she was the only one) sign contracts detailing their job, what they were allowed to do and what they were not, etc. It was just like a regular contract. The contract was signed by Hecate, the candidate who was to be her servant, and Zeus, as unlike Artemis Hecate did not put on an adorable expression before asking for such permission. Also Hecate was not, as she put it "a spoilt, sexist brat (sometimes)."

Except it was magically binding. Along with some parts being oaths on the Styx, like not abusing magic, not betraying Hecate and Olympus, and not changing pigs into dragons permanently. Rowena did not understand why the last one was even in the contract, much less an oath on the Styx.

Of course, some records say she had a daughter. But Helena was her mortal cousin's daughter, to whom Rowena was like a mother-figure.

"Cottage cheese is sooo much better!" Godric yelled from his portrait, snapping Rowena's attention to the two arguing pair.

"Screw you, Godric! Cheddar all the way!" Salazar retorted.

Rowena had enough; her show was about to begin. "Both of you...quiet" Her voice was deceptively calm, just above a whisper. She was also giving them the patented Athena glare. Since she looked like a twin sister of her own mother, it worked wonders. The two portraits went silent. Helga smirked in hers.

"I will not have any sound come from the two of you during the next two hours. If you make single, and I mean a single sound, I will summon your souls and get... _imaginative_..." Rowena threatened.

Godric and Salazar gulped. The Son of Zeus may be the de-facto leader of the four, but he was deathly afraid of two, well three women: his mother, wife, and Rowena. Salazar was also the same, except the difference was that he never married. Either way, they did NOT want her to get imaginative. The last time that happened - when they had bodies - was when a son of Apollo tried to take her against her will. He was declared insane soon after to the point Dionysus wasn't able to make any heads or tails of his insanity (or so he claimed). He also had multiple seizures when any girl, or anything blue or silver was brought to his attention.

Such were the wonders of Runic Magic.

So when Rowena truly got angry, you might want to stand clear.

"So no more sounds for the next two hours, and if I watch this show in peace, I will–"

Athena chose that moment to flash in the room. The Founders disappeared in their portraits. In reality, they had simply gone to another part of the penthouse. Rowena's house had a large amount of portraits scattered throughout the area, and all were interconnected. In this manner, all three could visit any part of the penthouse (excluding bathrooms of course), without problems.

"–gods dammit mother..." Rowena finished before she noticed the sleeping baby in her mother's hands. "Is that my sibling?" Rowena asked. She was wishing with all her heart that she was going to raise him. Athena was not so evil as to show her desire to her before taking it away.

Okay, she would probably do that teach someone a lesson.

But Rowena had not earned such an action. That much she knew.

Athena smiled at her daughter, "Yes. He is. And as answer to your prayers, I am giving you the opportunity to raise him."

"Of course! I'd love to!" Rowena replied with a smile.

Athena handed her sleeping son to Rowena, "His name is Hadrian Potter, and yes, the last surviving member of the Potter household. I wish you luck," Athena said as Rowena placed her brother in a crib she had conjured. Athena then explained how he came to be, and why he was orphaned. Athena left shortly after, explaining how her father would notice her absence.

Just as Athena left, another flash illuminated the room. When the light died down, a handsome man who looked in his late teens or early twenties stood in the place of the flash. He had dark brown hair and startling green eyes, and a short stubble on his chin. This was Merlin, who was made a minor God of Magic due to his actions in subduing Hyperion when the Titan had awoken from slumber a millennium ago.

He was also wearing a tuxedo that had two dragons flying around on it and battling one another. For the past 450 years, he had been spending a lot of time with Hermes and Apollo, going bar-hopping and the like. That was the reason for that distracting tux; it was to one-up his godly friends.

"Ah. So this is where my nephew is," Merlin said, stroking his beard. "Mother was worried sick as to where her adorable grandson is."

"Master Merlin..." Rowena greeted him. She could feel a headache coming, the source being the god in front of her. Merlin used to be a very wise and mature man. He was a wise, womanizing idiot as a god.

"Hello, Rowena. Glad to see you are alright. And thankfully Lady Athena has left... she keeps saying I have gone astray. And with that glare she keeps giving me makes things awkward," Merlin thought out loud.

"Why would a glare make things awkward?" Rowena questioned, rubbing her temples. Merlin used to be one of the most brilliant of researchers that studied magic. Since he had stopped doing so, Athena was understandably quite angry at him.

"That glare gives me raging boner!" Merlin exclaimed.

For her own sanity, Rowena chose to ignore that.

"Do you know anything about my brother?" Rowena questioned, hoping to get more insight on him.

Merlin nodded, looking grave. "That terrorist, Volde-whatever, used the killing curse on him. He survived, because of his mortal mother's sacrifice. Lily Potter's final words were 'take me, take my life instead, and let Hadrian James Potter live.' You know what that means right?"

Rowena raised a brow, eyes widening ever so slightly in surprise. "The death-exchange ritual... she knew she wouldn't win against him, so she set up a trap. Clever."

The ritual, aided by many runic arrays, did exactly what the name implied, took the life of the castor instead of the target. Even if the castor was struck down before anything happened to the target, the ritual would be still in effect, as magic interpreted that as the castor losing his/her life, and made a shield of sorts around the target, preventing any fatal injuries or mortal danger. It was one of the few ultimate protective spells, and forbidden because of the threat it posed to the castor.

"Quite," Merlin said. "I'll be right back. I need to report this to mother."

Rowena sighed as he left, already making plans for her baby brother.

Salazar returned in the portrait he was in earlier, "Is your mother gone? I think she is still mad at me from the owl accident those many years ago." Then he noticed the baby. "And she left you a –"

"Call my baby brother names Salazar. I dare you."

Salazar gulped audibly, even though he was just a portrait. "So, uhhh, what's his name?"

"Hadrian Potter."

"That is a good, strong name," Godric commented, appearing besides Salazar. Helga appeared beside Godric, "And a Potter to boot. No doubt he will be powerful."

"Of course! He will be cunning like myself! Now how to ensure that Rowena here does not turn him into a nerd witho––"

Salazar's portrait was promptly silenced by Rowena.

* * *

It was another hour or two before Merlin returned.

He then explained to Rowena that Hecate was quite pleased to know that Harry was in her care. In fact, the entire Potter vault in Gringotts was being transferred to the Manhattan Branch, and the Goblin King was overseeing the transfer himself. There was not much he could say to a goddess's request (order) after all. The American Goblins had seen it as a better investment to open up branches in nearly every major city in USA.

The immediate effect of this was that there was no Potter clan in Magical UK any longer. But since this was the Goddess of Magic's doing, the Wizengamot would not find out, as the Potter seat would simply undergo magical lockdown instead of falling. Magical lockdown of a seat meant that the heir was still alive, but was not yet eligible to take the seat.

Merlin had also gotten three boxes, two of which he explained that were the belongings of James and Lily Potter, and the third containing all of Harry's toys. Merlin left there after, having some work of his own. Which could mean anything from picking up girls to actual work.

Rowena sighed; it had been a long night. She then changed one of her rooms to a baby's room, complete with a crib and a small chandelier on top of the bed, around which were charmed glass owls that flew in circles.

She placed the sleeping form of Harry in his newly created bed, knowing full well her brother was destined for greatness.

After all, why would the Fates not cut his string even though he was hit with a sure-kill curse?

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 **A/N: This idea was in my mind for quite some time, and being the shy person that I am, took me a while to publish it.**

 **The pairing was decided mostly because of two reasons: one being that I have not found a single fic with this pairing (though I don't remember why I was searching for it) and second being that I wanted to try this pairing out.**

 **That being said, Silena will have magical powers in order to make this work.**

 **Hope you enjoyed; please tell me what you think.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer and warnings: refer Chapter One.**

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Chapter Two

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Rowena had high hopes for her brother from the beginning. This only came to be after she had to seal away his memories of his parents. Not that she wanted to, but Rowena had realized that Harry's brain was more developed than an average brain of his age. His memory was quite good, and he could comprehend that "gone to a far off place" (that was what Rowena told him to get him to stop crying when he woke up) meant that they won't be there for him anymore.

Which had sent him into another tantrum. Except this time his magic had also lashed out, breaking almost all of her easily breakable items in his vicinity. It was at this stage she realized that her brother would be traumatized for life if she did not seal away those memories.

Of course, the seal was not permanent. Once he was ready to recall them without suffering mental trauma, only then would the seal be lifted. And even then, the memories would simply replace the ones she had implanted: that she was his older half-sister, and their parents had passed away before he was old enough to remember them. Also, he would only recall the memories of his parents when he focused on them, and not actively.

And that was what had taken the entire morning.

"Finally he stopped crying!" Salazar said through his portrait.

"Quiet, you." Helga chided. "He somehow still remembers his parents' deaths. It is only natural that he would cry. And now Rowena seems to have planned his future..."

"Yep," Rowena answered. "He is going to Beacon Academy of Magic. Or he dies trying."

"And she claims not to have inherited her mother's personality," Godric muttered. "And why not my school?!" He yelled after a second.

"OUR school, Godric!" Helga corrected.

"My castle makes it My school!" Godric retorted.

"And there is Zeus's logic bursting forth," Salazar muttered. "And didn't we spilt it between the four of us after Duke Gryffindor died?!"

Rowena decided to cut in before their argument would wake Harry up. He had just fell asleep, and there was no telling for how long he would cry if he woke up abruptly. "I would not send anyone to Hogwarts, much less my own brother. Remember when I visited the place in disguise a few years ago? It is more of a political playground than a school, and the lessons are quite lacking in... everything. Most teachers don't even ensure whether the students have actually learnt the subject or not! And don't even get me started on their joke of a government."

That practically ended all conversation. All four of them were quite saddened to what had happened to their collective efforts. Hogwarts', and even Magical Britain's downfall began sometime in the 1500's, when ideas of "purebloods" being better than "muggleborns" began to come forth. Even then, it was a slow, gradual decline that anyone with enough brains would have been able to avoid. But when old and powerful families - like the Blacks and the Greengrasses - began to accept these ideas, the downfall only became inevitable. There wasn't much Hecate or Merlin could do; after all, no direct intervention, no matter how badly they might have wanted to do so. Rowena's options were also limited, as she was only one person.

And it wasn't as if Beacon Academy was not a good school.

Beacon Academy was a very prestigious school, and the only one that required an entrance exam to get in. It had an international rank of 1 in magic schools. Universities that taught magic (for your Masters/PhD courses) had different rankings. Beacon's entrance itself was quite tough, as the rate was amongst hundred students, only ten could enter. Sure, the entrance exam didn't have any magical related topics - given how the students would not have learnt any before joining - but rather Science, Math, History and Geography, English and one other language amongst Latin, Ancient Greek, French, or German as the test subjects. The Entrance usually takes place over three days, one day for two subjects. The Math exam was the only one on the last day.

And while Rowena could, homeschool Harry, the best universities preferred students from magic schools over homeschooled ones. Rowena did not want to take any such chance where her brother's education would be compromised. That did not mean she was not going to teach him, however. She was a thousand year old witch (stuck in a body of a twenty five year old) after all.

* * *

( _Summer of 2001; Harry's age: 10_ )

Rowena had started teaching Harry magical theory at this age. She felt it was the best time; he was going to be eleven in a week or two. It was then she understood her brother was not gifted like she first estimated him to be. No, he was a once in a century genius. In all fairness, she had _underestimated_ his intelligence. He soaked up everything she taught him - the basics of the basics - like sponge to water. In fact, she was forced to teach him some of the advanced (for his age) stuff because of his quick learning. She kept her lessons to once a week, and for one hour only. She didn't want him to be bored in Beacon when he goes there, neither did she want him to be ahead of his class by a whole year or two. She had already suffered because of this; she was barely 14 when she was selected to be tutored under Merlin, while Godric, Helga and Salazar were 18.

And Rowena was quite lonely because of the fact that her father pushed her well beyond her fellow age-mates. If she had not known Godric from her childhood - Duke Geoffrey Gryffindor (Godric's stepfather) and Baron Robert Ravenclaw (her father) were quite close friends - she would have almost no friends in her childhood, her half-siblings not included. Even when under Chiron's tutelage, she preferred to keep to herself. Sure, she knew who Salazar and Helga were, but they were just acquaintances, and not as close when they would be after Merlin took them in.

Rowena did not want to make the same mistake with Harry. She had done a similar thing with Helena, and her neice had stolen her diadem and hid it. Not that Rowena cared about the diadem; the diadem was bought from a trinket shop, and the enchantments on it were easily reproducable. She _did_ have close to a thousand years to search for it, but she did not because it was of no value to her.

There were many signs throughout his early childhood about his genius - given how he hated fairy tales because the stories were 'illogical'. Every time she decided to read one to him before he went to bed, he would point out the mistakes in the story she was reading. Which was why she would tell him interesting (for a child, that is) tales from her own past. She had tried telling him the tales of Ancient Greek, but that either got him so interested that he would refuse to sleep, or continuosly ask why didn't (insert god's name) do (insert logical action) instead of (insert actual event).

And in the beginning he was held back by dyslexia. But while dyslexia was not curable completely, it was treatable if the treatment began from an early enough age. The treatment was simple: you just had to read and write over and over again. Eventually, your brain got the hang of it, allowing you to read and write normally.

Of course, many kids his own age were rather intimidated by his intellect, and he was often bullied because of this. And the fact that he was a demigod made it worse sometimes - Rowena had sensed about three monsters in his first school alone, which she had gotten rid of before they could become a threat. And as a result, he didn't have many friends. His closest friend was the daughter of Rowena's colleague, and Rowena was pretty damned sure that Harry's friend was a demigoddess. She was too young for Rowena to properly ascertain whose daughter she was - demigod kids all had similar aura until the age of ten or so, and after that, anyone who could sense aura could make certain of whose kid it was without going by the behaviour.

Rowena did have her bet on Aphrodite, though. The young girl's father, Edward Beauregard, while not being a very powerful wizard, was the seven time winner of the annual 'Most Handsome Wizard Contest' and held the spot of 'Most Elgible Bachelor' for three years in the Witches' Weekly magazine that was popular with the younger witches. Of course, he, like most of the world, knew her as Anastasia Rivers. Both names were chosen completely at random.

And yes, his first school, because even Athena kids were sometimes subject to expulsion on unfair means. Harry was expelled because he had scored higher than the principal's kid, and the spoilt brat decided to beat Harry for that. When Harry had fought back, he was expelled 'for unprovoked attack on an innocent child'. Luckily the next school Rowena enrolled him in had no such problems. If the one incident with the teenage Cyclops was to be ignored. Seriously, that monster had rampaged in the chemistry lab of the school, and almost leveled the building. Most of the destruction was caused by the chemicals exploding rather the monster itself. Luckily, this was over the Summer vacation, so no one was hurt.

But despite his genius, Harry was a lazy kid.

And possibly did things no child of Athena did. Like stay up all night to clear one of his many video games, or to watch anime, read comic books, etc. the night before his tests and the like. His teachers had complained to Rowena that he slept in classes, mostly in History.

And he still had straight A's. The lowest grade he had received was an A-minus. And boy was Rowena angry when she saw the report card. If it hadn't for Helga's intervention, Rowena probably would have grounded Harry for two months at least.

And so, even right now, the night before his last entrance exam for Beacon, he was too busy defeating the Elite Four in Pokemon (Silver) rather than to review the subjects.

Sure, he had taken an official 'study leave' from Camp, which he began two years ago, but that was because Ashley Franklin, the Athena Counsellor, kept nagging him to go back so that he would not be distracted.

Harry was sure he was going to get killed if either of his older sisters found out what he was really doing. He did not know whose wrath was more frightening. The only time he had incurred Ashley's anger was when he decided to 'ensure his cells were respiring at their bare minimum so as to conserve energy for the next activity' (aka sleep) during her Ancient Greek class.

But he _was_ a son of Athena. And possibly the only one who was using his intellect to slack off. He knew his sister's schedule. And he knew the general order of which the Founders appeared in what part of the house. Salazar was not a problem; he was actually all for it. Godric and Helga, not so much. They would instantly call Rowena.

At this time, Rowena would be watching the evening news. If she were to get up and check up on him, it would take her exactly 5 seconds to make it to his door, open it, and process what he was doing. Of course, Harry would not be able to ascertain if she has gotten up from her TV or not. The floor was carpeted, so no hearing footsteps.

So, the solution? One would have said, 'lock the room door.' But Rowena did not allow him to lock his door, and even if he did, she was a simple spell away from unlocking it. Harry had instead used one of his many science fair trophies to act like a SONAR. He did have a device that created a sound wave that was undetectable, and he had used it to create a SONAR in the project that had won him the very trophy he was using. If Rowena were to come near his door, the trophy would vibrate. A small LED placed on the circuit would also be lit for a short moment when that happened.

Ironically, it was Rowena who had taught him how to do that.

Of course, the back up was that Salazar had agreed to tip him off, but Harry had learnt a long time ago that Salazar was as trustworthy as Hermes in a bank with minimal security.

And with all due respect, he had a genius level intellect and an eidetic memory. Why would he need to study the same thing, over and over again? He could recall everything he had read, heard, seen, tasted, felt, and experienced in his entire life.

He had this one in the bag.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Or maybe not... the sensor would fail for the portraits, after all. And it _had_ to be Helga. He was so screwed.

* * *

It was the day of the results.

They came by post, and Harry's was no different. The result was no schock to any resident of the Ravenclaw household. Rowena and Harry were both over the moon when they read the report. It didn't save him from the previous punishment; he was still grounded.

 _Beacon Academy Entrance Report_

 _Name: Hadrian James Potter_

 _Ancient Greek: 99/100_

 _English: 99/100_

 _History & Geography: 100/100_

 _Mathematics: 100/100_

 _Science: 100/100_

 _RANK: ZERO-ZERO-ONE_

 _Congratulations, you have been selected into Beacon Academy of Magic. Please show this Report Card to Michael Cruz, (head of Admissions Department), by 18th Sept, 2001 as proof of your selection. The Academy begins by 19th Sept, 2001. No student will be accepted beyond 18th Sept, 2001, irrespective of name or rank._

 _Signed: Professor Ozpin, Headmaster._

* * *

The past ten years had not fared well for Albus Dumbledore.

His bad mood had begun when he found out that Harry Potter had never spent a minute in his Petunia's house. He was informed so by Mrs. Figg, who was a Order member told to keep an eye on Harry Potter. But how was this possible? He had left the babe on the porch at two in the night... Ok, maybe in hindsight he should have waited until morning.

His bad mood had gotten worse when the Potter vaults were inaccessible and had been shut down. Little did Dumbledore know that the Goblins had been intrustucted to inform that the Potter vaults were under lock down to anyone who asked about the Potter vault. Dumbledore had tried to gain knowledge on who had shut them down, as he was the magical guardian of the Potter heir, but had been refused. The goblin teller even had the audacity to tell him, that he, Albus Dumbledore, was not allowed to question on the status of the Potter Vaults.

Now how was he supposed to get the Weasleys firmly into his scheme? Sure, they already worshipped him, but if he was paying, sorry, helping them in their time of need, then they would be completely devoted to him. Molly was quite angry when she was not getting the money she was promised.

The least he could do was provide free education to her kids.

And if that was not enough, he also had no idea on Harry Potter's whereabouts. It was almost as if the Boy-Who-Lived never existed. And Dumbledore had gotten through all that trouble to put Sirius Black in Azkaban just so that Harry's godfather would never get his hands on him. Harry Potter, a Light member, being raised by the new Lord of a predominantly Dark family? Preposterous. It was never meant to happen.

Of course, he had to give the media something else, so that his image would not be spoiled. Dumbledore had convinced everyone that Harry was being trained in secret so that he becomes the sort of hero the good people of Magical Britain deserved. Ironically, this was partially true; not that Dumbledore knew. Luckily that had also worked when he had to explain to Fudge why Harry Potter could not come to Hogwarts.

And on this particular day, the Cloak of Invisibility he had "borrowed" from James was missing, and so was a particular sword that he kept encased his glass. Interestingly, the glass had no signs of being broken into, or being repaired after that. It was almost as if the sword had vanished. Both were very important artefacts, the Cloak being a Deathly Hallow and the sword's original wielder was none other than Godric Gryffindor.

Even Fawkes, the phoenix that was always at his side, could not tell him if anything was wrong.

It was almost as if God had taken them. The irony of that was lost on an ignorant Dumbledore.

* * *

In the Ravenclaw household, the usual routine was going on. Harry and Rowena were engaged in a gruesome chess match that was ongoing for the last hour or so. The TV was turned on for Godric and Salazar, who had taken opposote sides in the ongoing Celtics vs. Lakers game, and were cheering for their chosen teams quite boisterously. Helga was also watching the game, but did not pick any side.

All were interrupted when a package arrived in Harry's name.

After Rowena inspected it - she and Harry were the only ones who noticed - and both suspected that it was their mother and Hecate who sent it. The other three were too engrossed in the intense basketball game.

The reason for this was because the package contained a baby snowy owl, which was a few months old, a wand (olive and phoenix feather; 11.5 inches), a very recognizable sword, and a cloak, no, _the_ Cloak of Invisibility. The owl was kept in a statis spell that was widely used to safely transport animals and birds.

Rowena had heard that the Peverell clan had married and eventually assimilated with the Potters, so it was obvious that the Cloak would be passed down. But it was not present in the two of the three boxes that Merlin had gotten that had the belongings of James and Lily Potter.

The wand was also a bit odd. Hecate gave wands to her children as a gift when they turned, or were about to turn 11 – the first age of magical maturity. Of course, the wands were one of a kind, but still not overpowered like the Deathstick. They only had one special ability besides the usual functions of a wand: if the user lost or misplaced it, then the wand would find its way back to the user, quite similar to most demigod weapons. The Mist was then manipulated by the Goddess to make it look like the local wandmaker had made the wands. The wands were even registered this way.

And while all children of Hecate could use any wand ever made, their magic was at their strongest while using a compatible wand.

But it would make sense that Hecate was interested in Harry. The Potter clan used to be her favourite when the Gods were still in Europe. Harry was her grandson, the last Potter alive (though Rowena had heard a rumour that a Potter girl was in the Hunt) and the only survivor of the Killing Curse. Also, on top of all this, Hecate had also frequently heard a lot about him through Rowena, whether the goddess asked about him or not. Harry was her brother, and he did make her proud even though he had a penchant for slacking off.

That was something she blamed on Salazar. The Hermes was quite strong in the long-dead wizard.

Rowena brought herself out of her thoughts as she glanced at Harry, who was examining the owl. He was trying to find a way to break the statis spell. He had already picked up the wand, and had instinctively known it was meant to be used by him. His own magical core had accepted the much, much smaller one in the wand.

But the owl was still frozen! How was he supposed to get her - he somehow knew the owl was a female (possibly because of his mother) - to be free? His pride would not allow him to ask for help, and his sister had not yet covered breaking of spells. Only the basics to Charms, Transfigurations, and a bit of Arithmancy and Runes.

Spell breaking was not on that list.

But if he remembered one of his sister's lessons correctly, then _intention_ was everything. If magic recognized your intention, then it allowed you to perform the task you wanted. Without a clear intention, it was impossible to cast any spell. And this was also seen in how spells were created: _imagine_ the effects of the spell, then the _intention_ to see that effect become reality, and magic would allow you to do so by channeling that magical power through a focus (a wand, sword, staff, etc.). The naming of the spell came later.

Of course, the limitations to this were your own imagination and strength of the magical core. A strong imagination and a clear intent but a weak magical core were not enough to create a powerful spell. Similarly, a strong magical core, but with weak imagination and unclear intent would not even create a weak spell.

Therefore, in theory, he should be able to create, or rather recreate, the spell that is used to break another spell, if his intent and imagination were clear and strong enough, and he knew his core to be powerful enough. Rowena had told him he had about the same amount of magic in his core as would a seventeen year old. Demigods in general were more powerful than normal humans, and Harry's lineage certainly helped that.

And so Harry got to work. He imagined the owl flying around, and made it clear to his magic that the owl flying around was reality. Then when he felt his magic reacting after a while, he pointed his wand at the owl. A streak of red light hit the owl, and she began to fly.

Before Harry could celebrate, however, she fell into his arms, her body going back into stasis.

Where most children his age would have been frustrated or started to cry, Harry was not like that. He would first ascertain his mistake, try again and again till his patience runs out.

Unknown to him, Rowena and the other Founders were watching him with great interest. Rowena herself was quite proud; her brother had managed a temporary spell-breaking charm. It was just like the _Finite Incantatem_ spell, but only broke the target spell temporarily, and hence used a lot less power.

"That was a wonderful first try," Godric commented. "A little more power into your spell and the stasis will break."

Harry either did not listen or out right ignored him, lost in his thoughts.

"Leave him, Godric. He's lost in his own thoughts. I doubt he can even register what you said," Rowena commented.

"But won't this act of magic alert the authorities?" a concerned Helga asked. America was a lot more lax about underage magic - as long as you were a registered student of any magic school, you could use magic anywhere, as long as it was not made public. Sure, the Mist was a lot more potent here than in Britain, which was why even if one did perform magic in the open, it would most likely be hidden. But Harry was not a registered student in any magic school. He may have rank one in the entrance exam, but the 'registered' part of it only came after attending the first day of school.

"Alerting the authorities," Salazar scoffed. "Please! Nothing gets in or out of here - magical energy included - without Rowena's explicit permission. Surely you know that! And besides, it's not everyday that a child of Athena walks down the right path."

"Doing illegal things is the right path?!" Godric, Helga and Rowena asked.

"Within reason and limit, of course! Can you imagine how boring it would be if everyone stuck to the (beep)ing rules!" Salazar replied, before frowning. "Okay, the censoring rune was fun for sometime, but now its just getting old."

"I'm not going to even argue with the flaw in that statement. And you do remember that he learnt many slangs from you?" Rowena retorted. "When he was _three_ years old, no less."

They were all interrupted by a "hoot-hoot!" that came from the owl. "Finally!" Harry happily cried as the owl flew up and landed on his shoulder.

"You shall forever be known as Hedwig," Harry declared. Hedwig happily hooted again, voicing her approval. She was a bit confused, not used to the stasis charm placed on her. But if she was meant to be under the care of this boy, the son of the Great and Powerful Athena, then she will never complain and protect her Master with her dying breath.

"Congratulations, Harry. The spell you used was a _Finite Incantatem_ ," Rowena said proudly. "But the specialty of this counter is that it differs in its properties against different spells. And I'm glad that you actually can apply your knowledge to everyday life."

Harry beamed at his sister. She rarely praised him like this, so it was a big achievement for him to receive such acknowledgements. "But I recreated that spell... and understood quite well how it works... why aren't each and every spells taught this way?"

"They are," Rowena said. "The only difference is, the way a student is taught a spell is a recreation of how the original creator created it, down to the wand movement. The way the four of us were taught, we were shown the effect of a spell by Master Merlin. Then we had to recreate that effect. How we did it was up to us. Of course, we were allowed to ask for help, but it was cryptic for the most part."

Harry nodded. The way his sister was taught, Harry felt, was the best way; by doing it yourself, you could completely understand the inner workings of a spell.

Then he turned his attention to other things. More specifically the sword.

It was a Knight's sword, with rubies encrusted at the hilt, and the blade was made of silver. The blade had two engravings on its either side. _Godric Gryffindor_ in English and _Stormbreaker_ in Ancient Greek. "Ahh. Stormbreaker... So many memories," Godric commented from his portrait, a far-off look on his face. That is when he saw Harry reaching for it. If the blade did not recognize you as the wielder, then the hilt would send a mild or a large shock through your body depending on your intentions. This was avoided if you wore gloves, but only if your intentions were pure. "Wait! Don't touch the -"

Harry picked it up, giving it a few experimental strikes. As soon as he picked it up, the rubies on the hilt glowed a bit, before going back to normal. Godric's name that was etched on to the side was also changed to _Hadrian Potter._

"-blade. Huh. It recognized you as the wielder. Congratulations... I guess." Godric muttered.

Harry turned towards the ancient wizard. "Will it destroy monsters?"

"That sword, Stormbreaker, is made of Athenian Silver," Godric told him. "Which is simply normal silver blessed by all the twelve gods. Very, very, very rare to come by. Zeus only wants the best for his children, which is why I got my hands on it. The blade is rumored to have crafted by Hephaestus, but the god has neither confirmed nor denied this. Also, like Celestial Bronze swords, it can cut through monsters, demigods and even gods. Unlike Celestial Bronze, it is also effective against mortals."

"But why name it after mother?" Harry asked. "And why Stormbreaker?"

It was Salazar who answered. "Athenian is derived from Athens, as the silver was mined there. And Stormbreaker because his wife was a storm!"

"Gods dammit Salazar..." Godric muttered, and turned to Harry. "It was named because it once cut through a thundercloud, and _Thundercloud-breaker_ was too long." Then he turned to his rival again. "At least I did not undergo performance issues!"

"That is a lie!" Salazar yelled indignantly. "And my 'snake' has 'slithered' into every clan there was back in the day!" The son of Hermes then turned to an irate Rowena, and smirked. "Ha-ha! I always find a way around everything. You seriously thought that a censoring rune can hold me! Female dog, please! I'm Salazar freaking Slytherin!"

"How did he get into Elysium again?" Harry asked rhetorically.

"I conned those three idiots!" Salazar grinned.

"I totally believe you," Harry said sarcastically.

"It is true," Godric said. "He was supposed to go in Asphodel. For almost every heroic act he committed, him acting according to his lust, and the fact that he conned quite a few people of their money, were enough to cancel each other out. The earthquake in Canterbury in the year 1382 was caused when Hades found out... And once the three judges have given a verdict, it is eternal with no way to overturn it."

"But he died in 997!"

"If you thought that Hades kept an eye on each and every soul to cross the river, you are dead wrong," Salazar said. "Get it? _Dead_ wrong?"

"Gods dammit Salazar..." The rest of the residents muttered.

Harry then asked about the Cloak, the final object that had arrived. "That is _the_ Cloak of Invisibility. As in it is a Deathly Hallow," Rowena answered.

"I don't recall you ever telling me about those," Harry said with a frown.

Rowena sighed, before telling him _The Tale of the Three Brothers._

When she finished, Salazar was crying. Apparently portraits could do that. "A-Are you crying?" Helga asked, confused.

"Sniff-sniff... 'It was only when he had attained a great age that the youngest brother finally took off the Cloak of Invisibility and gave it to his son?!' Ignotus Peverell... was able to have a son while being _invisible_! That guy had some mad game," Salazar said. Godric, Helga and Rowena palmed their faces while Harry was a bit confused. What did games and having children have to do with anything? Salazar then added, "He is my one true hero! Even Zeus cannot defeat such manliness!"

That sent Salazar and Godric into another argument. Only Helga had returned to the Basketball game. At the same time, Rowena banned Harry from taking the Cloak to school. Camp was fair game, however.

"So.. Uhh.." Harry began, turning towards his sister, who fixed him with a look.

"You're still grounded. No going to Camp."

* * *

 _Acknowledgements: Beacon Academy and Ozpin are taken from RWBY, which is owned by Rooster Teeth._

* * *

 **A/N: I hope this chapter does not piss too many people off... I'm mainly worried about Harry not going Hogwarts, and creating an impromptu SONAR device. And Salazar being sneaky enough to trick the Three Judges. That should not cause too many problems right? Right?**

 **But if you're worried about Hogwarts and its residents not getting any screen time, don't be. There is an entire arc planned for when Harry goes there (though I won't tell you when and why, though you can make a few educated guesses about both), and I plan to either include "Hogwarts without Harry" segments either in between chapters or at the end of chapters as an omake. Though I won't make any promises about these segments appearing in every single chapter.**

 **Also, I hope my explanation about the creation of spells makes sense... if it doesn't, well, my other explanation is... MAGIC!**

 **And thank you to all who fav'd , followed and reviewed! Hope you enjoyed, and stay tuned!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer and warnings: refer chapter one.**

* * *

 **A/N: Review time!**

 **Uber Ghidorah: I completely agree with you.**

 **Morgan d'Arc: I thought I was clear about this. I had said that Athena could play around with the genetic code of her children, but did not want to give them super powers. So no, this will not crossover with Marvel. Sorry if you wanted that.**

 **Finwitch1: I'll admit, I completely forgot about the Psyche-Eros incident. And as to your second comment (or was it a concern?) you are partially correct. I won't say more, read and find out.**

* * *

Chapter Three

* * *

(Winter of 2004)

Albus Dumbledore sighed as he paced around in his office.

Ever since 1991, the year Harry Potter was reported to be missing by his spies, nothing had gone right. In the ten years that followed he had tried to search everywhere for Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived. He had eyes and ears everywhere. He had spies all over Europe looking for the boy. He had even sent a few across the Atlantic in the Americas, but all had turned up dry. He had found a lead in USA, but the child, while possessing black hair and green eyes, was a muggle. Not only that, but the green was a more of a sea-green rather than an emerald green. This was just a few months ago, in a place called Yancy Academy. USA had also lead him to another child, a magical child, with similar description, but this one had gray eyes.

And just like that, both leads were shot down. So, a backup to destroy Voldemort was needed.

Dumbledore had tried to see whether Neville Longbottom can live up to the prophecy. Neville was also born at around the same time as Harry Potter, and he could be considered as 'marked' by the Dark Lord. But the mark on Neville was an emotional one, and in no way stated that the Dark Lord considered him to be his equal.

While Dumbledore had not given up on Harry, it never hurt to have a back-up. But Neville was a shy kid, and probably would not break the rules to go after Voldemort. Nothing a few potions could not fix. Also, he did have his parents' blood. Even if he took after his mother, his sense of justice would not let him just sit as Voldemort goes after innocents. Once the Dark Lord returns, of course.

Of course, Neville was just a way to end Voldemort.

Also, previous events had proved that Neville could live up to the task. During his first year, Neville had stalled Quirinus Quirell long enough for Dumbledore to arrive. Of course, the Philosopher's Stone he had acquired just to see if Neville could be the Chosen One was a fake. Nicholas Flamel had not parted with his Stone, explaining that a few 'outside forces' would not let him.

During Neville's second year, while nothing worthwhile had happened, he had come across Voldemort's horcrux in the form of a diary. They had learnt that the horcrux planned to come back, by absorbing the life force of Ginerva Weasley. Not only that, but it also planned on releasing Slytherin's monster. But for some reason, the monster had refused to obey the horcrux. The horcrux now sat in the Headmaster's office under heavy wards so that it would remain harmless.

Nothing major had happened, according to Dumbledore, during the third year. Only that Sirius Black had somehow broken out of Azkaban. Sirius had come to Hogwarts, stayed hidden for a while, before it was clear that the wanted criminal was not in the school anymore. Most speculated that he had not received the news of Harry Potter being missing, and hence had come to Hogwarts to kill him. But when he found that Potter was missing, he left.

Dumbledore knew not where the man was, and this irked him greatly. He knew, of course, that Black had visited Hogwarts to kill Pettigrew. But he had been unsuccessful, given how Ron Weasley still had his rat. Dumbledore also knew that it was the Dementors that made Black flee, more than the auror guards placed.

Of course, Dumbledore was still looking for Black, but Harry Potter took more importance.

In no way would Dumbledore gain the same rewards he would if he had Harry Potter under his grasp. The Potters were far more richer than the Longbottoms - they had the vaults of three lines under them (including their own), all three being Most Ancient and Most Noble. Potter vaults were also home to the powerful artifacts of the Peverell House, as well as the powerful battle magic of the Gryffindor House, apart from the vast riches and the Potters' own branch of rare, mystical and powerful runic magic.

And because they never flaunted what they have, most people tended to forget this.

Once Harry Potter and Voldemort fought, it wouldn't matter to Dumbledore who died in the battle. Potter dies, then he would swoop in and kill a weakened Voldemort. Voldemort dies, then Harry Potter would perish in an accident. The gold in the now defunct Potter vault would go to the Weasleys, while the rare and powerful magic artifacts, scrolls, tomes and books would be his.

Dumbledore had no need for fame or for money. He only wanted the knowledge behind those locked doors. That way, with all the magical knowledge of the world, Dumbledore could finally attain the Greater Good.

All of his plans depended on Harry Potter, and Dumbledore knew this. And now all his plans lay in shambles because the damn brat was missing. He knew Harry Potter was alive. After all, there was a magical device he had set up as soon as Lily had given birth to see if he was alive or not. It was not designed to track the location, but only the health of the child.

Only if he had placed a locating rune or ward on the baby those many years ago...

* * *

Harry yawned as the bell rang, signalling that school had ended. "I'm so sleepy," he muttered, shoulders slumping as he dragged himself out of class.

He had grown over the years to a respectable 5'6" over the years. He still had a few more years left for growth; he could easily hit six feet or so by the time his growing age stops. His raven hair was as messy and unkempt as always, which according to quite a few girls, made him look 'more handsome than he already was'.

He had also learnt a lot over the years, most of it from either Rowena (whom Harry simply addressed as 'sis' about 98% of the time. The rest 2% were spent in thinking up names befitting of a female dictator) or Chiron. Even though Rowena did not want to teach Harry too much advanced magic, it soon became obvious to her that he needed to be taught the advanced material so that his mind does not enter a state of stagnancy. So, she had taken to teach him Mist manipulation. Unsurprisingly, it was quite easy for him, as Hecate was his grandmother.

He could form at least one mistform and keep it together for at least five minutes.

While he was not allowed to carry his Cloak of Invisibility to school, the _Stormbreaker_ was another issue. He was allowed to take the blade of his ancestor to school, mostly for self defence purposes.

How did he carry a blade past the security, you say?

Rowena had taught him an Egyptian magic spell that let him create his own dimension where he could store these items. Of course, the created dimension was simply a part of a much bigger dimension called the 'Du'at'. Rowena had not told Harry about what exactly resided inside the Du'at, but Harry had come across it several times in many Egyptian mythology books to know that it was where the Egyptian Gods resided. Or so the Egyptians believed.

With Greek gods running around (and hooking up with humans quite often), Harry would not be surprised if there were Egyptian ones somewhere out there.

Harry had only created his space to be large enough to store his sword and nothing else, mostly because it took some of his magic to open and close the dimension, and the bigger it was, more magic was needed.

And for his wand, Beacon provided wrist holsters for $3 a piece. It currently sat on his left hand, as his right hand was used for his sword.

Back to the present, Harry yawned. "I need to sleep..."

"Seriously?" A feminine voice said from besides him, nearly making him jump. It did awaken him almost entirely though, thanks to the demigodly alertness. The girl beside him, Silena Beauregard, was looking at him in annoyance. She was an attractive girl with dark hair that reached her mid-back, and blue eyes. She was dressed in the standard Beacon uniform for girls, and quite obviously, he was in the boy's uniform. And, like him, she was also a demigod (or was it demigoddess?). Silena was a daughter of Aphrodite. Which was quite surprising to Harry given how smart she was.

She was also his (not so) secret crush, but no one needed to know that.

"You just slept through _both_ Prof. Port and Professor, sorry, _Dr._ Oobleck's classes, and you're _still_ sleepy?" Silena questioned him incredulously. They were friends for about eight years now, and yet she sometimes could not comprehend his laziness.

"I was awake the entire night! And you try sleeping on a bench. Its freaking uncomfortable." Harry replied. "At least now it's the winter holidays..."

"And what was so important that you had to stay awake the entire night knowing that there is school early in the morning?" Silena asked him crossly.

Knowing full well that if Harry told her the truth ( _Jak and Daxter_ was not going to complete itself) then Silena would chew him out. He did not want that, especially after he had been chewed out when he accidentally spilled some coffee on her shoes. So, he resorted to lying. Or rather an incomplete truth. "I was working on a runic array."

He had been working with runes. From 7 to 7:30 in the evening.

Silena sighed, before handing him a few pages. "Here. I took notes for you. Though with you behaving as lazy as a son of Hypnos, I sometimes wonder why I bother taking notes for you." That and he always found at least one mistake in her notes.

"Yeah, I wonder that too..."

"What was that?" Silena glared at him.

"I mean thanks a lot!" Harry grinned at her, before turning his attention to the notes she had given him. Silena blushed lightly, not saying anything. His grin always brightened up her day. Although she herself had feelings for him as well, and could also sense that he was reciprocating them, she had decided to wait until the next fireworks show at Camp. If he does not confess, then either she would, or be a lot more open with her feelings.

Her brightened up day vanished when he pointed out about seven mistakes in her notes. Well ten mistakes, but three were rather obvious spelling mistakes which she ignored. She had overcome her dyslexia to a certain degree, but she was not like Harry, who only jumbled up on words like 'verisimilitude'.

"So, what were you working on?" Silena asked him as they made their way towards the exit.

"Chiron told me to design a rune that would strengthen the Camp borders if they ever got weakened."

"Sounds... quite complicated."

"Oh it is. The rune I designed creates an energy field that causes a destructive interference with the Camp's. The energy waves produced my mine will actually destroy both fields, given that they interfere with a phase angle of an odd multiple of π and not the multiple of 2π required for a constructive interference..."

"...Can you speak in English?" Silena looked at him in confusion.

Harry sighed. "That was English, except for that one Greek letter. But to put it in simpler terms, my field and the Camp's field would destroy each other rather than add up."

"You could have just said that and be done with it." Silena could see why Harry had stayed awake the entire night. Things half as complex tended to keep children of Athena from sleeping. Not that the rune was what kept him awake, but she did not need know that.

Harry shrugged. "I thought you wanted to know the theory and the reason behind it."

"So, why would Chiron tell you design such a thing?" Silena decided to address something else rather than contradict his statement.

"'Cause I got bored and pestered Chiron for an idea. Or to be more accurate, asked for permission." Harry said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Harry. People sleep, eat and play when they're bored. Even us demigods train and hone our skills when we get bored. We do not tend to go to Chiron to pester him for permission for obvious things." Silena said almost chidingly.

"Well, the last time a brother of mine, dead for about four centuries or so, slept when he was bored, an apple fell on him, and he was jobless enough that he changed what the world thought when apples fall on people. Actually, they still think the same: curse that god that decided to break their sleep." Harry said nonchalantly. "My point is, that I probably would have gotten the idea to do that simply by laying down. But I did not, because it would have been wiser to consult someone worth hundreds of years of experience before applying such a rune to the Camp's defenses. After all, someone must have thought of doing it. But it has not happened, as Chiron told me. He simply said to try it."

Chiron had also told Harry that Camp's defenses were at that particular level for a reason. It would not do to put an all powerful barrier around Camp and make all demigods solely reliant on it. Harry simply needed something to occupy his free time, which was why he was designing such a rune, and not because it would be actually used. But Harry got the sinking feeling that Silena would scold him for staying awake to create something that was not going to be used.

Not that he was awake the entire night for that, but that was besides the point.

"Well, that and the fact that you all banned me from creating strategies in CTF." Harry added.

Silena nodded at that. He was lazy, and at times arrogant and prideful, yes, but he never ignored his teachers, siblings and friends unless they said something really, really stupid. She also did not feel the need to point out that no one in Camp could take apart his finely made, well refined strategies, including Chiron. Whenever he planned, it was a sure win for Athena. Which was why, to make CTF more fair, Harry was banned from creating any new strategies by both Chiron and the Cabin Counselors.

By this time they had made it to the parking lot. While the surroundings had a layer of snow all over them, the parking lot was warded against weather related issues, so it looked as if snow had forgotten to fall on the parking lot.

Yellow school buses were everywhere, along with a few areas for portkeys for those that came from far off. Parents were also around their vehicles, whether it was a car or a broom. Mist hid these things as well, so no worries of someone looking out the window and shouting,"FLYING BROOMS? WHERE CAN I GET ONE?" Unless they were clear sighted, of course. But no clear sighted mortal would go saying things like 'I just saw a flying broom'. They would probably be admitted in a mental facility.

But it was beyond Harry as to why anyone wanted to fly on a broom in this cold weather.

A handsome man with dark hair and hazel eyes noticed Harry and Silena. He was dressed casually in blue jeans and a white T-shirt with a black jacket that was unzipped, and he had those 'pretty boy' looks, and was drawing the attention of every woman around him. Edward Beauregard was a celebrity wizard as well as an actor (though he had not been active in the industry since Silena was born), and he had quite a large amount of fans. The public knew that he had only one daughter, and her mother's identity had never been disclosed to anyone.

Edward scowled as he saw Harry next to his baby girl, going immediately into over-protective daddy mode. He was fine with him till Harry became a teenager. Teenager boys tended to think with their hormones rather than with their heads. Sure, Harry had done nothing wrong, but Edward knew it was just a matter of time before Harry decides to make a move on his precious daughter.

His ex was the goddess of love, so he knew quite well when someone had feelings for someone else, no matter how much they may try to hide it. Not that Harry hid it well. But then, neither did his daughter. Edward knew that they were going to be together one day. It may have been Aphrodite's doing, but it was certain by his view.

Of course, that did not mean that Edward would give up on being an overprotective parent. He could almost see why the father of his first girlfriend enjoyed tormenting him so much now.

"Oh hey look! There's my dad!" Silena said, noticing Edward. He always came to pick Silena up and drop her off to both school and Camp.

"Yeah, I think I should find my school bus, now... I know not what I did, but he does not like me too much anymore..." Harry muttered.

"Oh, don't be like that!" Silena said. "He is a big softie on the inside!"

Harry wanted to point out that even Zeus was a 'big softie' when it came towards his daughters (well, Olympian ones at least), but held his tongue. "That's all and cool and all, but the bus would be leaving anytime now." Harry said. "So, see you at Camp?"

Silena pouted a bit, but nodded. "Well, I guess this is goodbye, then."

"Don't say it like we're not going to meet again!" Harry said. If this was an anime, he would have one of those sweatdrops on the back of his head. "But, bye. See you at Camp tomorrow!"

Silena giggled as she watched him leave.

* * *

"So, care to tell me," Rowena said angrily as she drove with Harry (and Hedwig, though she was in her cage) in her Audi, "What was going through that head of yours when you decided to stay awake, till 7 in the morning, playing on your PS2?"

They were driving to Camp Half Blood in Long Island, almost an hour's journey or so. They had almost reached, and Rowena had been scolding him since she woke him up. He had slept for a total of ten minutes. But hey, _Kingdom Hearts_ was a very interesting game. At least he beat the game in the night, and could safely buy its sequel that was announced to be released next year.

Harry did not reply to her question, as he was half asleep in the back seat. He would have fallen asleep, but he knew his sister would get even more angry if he did that.

Rowena continued her one sided conversation as she drove past the Camp borders, eventually parking near the Big House. She had already confiscated his Cloak as punishment, as well as all his handheld gaming devices that she was almost regretting buying for him. She should have seen the signs when she had to stop him from playing _World of Warcraft_ with two unknown guys called 'SolarFlare11' and 'ThiefKing7'.

Meanwhile on Olympus, Apollo and Hermes would wonder for days on end where their best WoW buddy went, as conducting a successful quest was nearly impossible without him. Or her. They weren't sexist.

The Camp was mostly untouched by winter, thanks to the anti-weather and anti-monster force field around the entire periphery of the Camp.

She and Harry got out of the car, the later doing so quite groggily. Harry stretched and yawned, hoping to run to his bed in Cabin Six and fall asleep. And hope to his mother that Annabeth was not inside. He did not need another lecture on his laziness.

Chiron had already come to greet them. "Good morning and nice to see you again, Rowena, Harry." He then turned towards Rowena. "Though you should visit more often."

Rowena bowed respectfully at the old centaur. "I do try my best, Chiron, but Lady Hecate is quite strict about her rules. I can't really visit unless it's to drop off my _lazy_ brother." Rowena glanced towards Harry, who had seemingly fallen off to sleep on his feet.

"What did he do?" Chiron inquired.

"Stayed up all night playing his video games."

Chiron sighed. "Now, now, Rowena. You can't fault children for behaving like children."

Rowena shot Chiron with a dark look. "You coddle them too much."

"Perhaps. But in these times of peace, Lord Zeus has specifically ordered that demigods need not sacrifice their childhoods while constantly learning how to fight monsters," Chiron said.

Rowena sighed. If the orders were from up top to train them to be weaker, then she could not really say anything. Besides, the kids were powerful, yes, and in some ways even more than the ancient heroes, as the demigods these days had a clear idea of what they'd be fighting.

Knowledge was half the battle, and most of the work had been already done by Hercules, Perseus, Theseus, and the like. Which was why, most of the demigods that either came to Camp, or already knew about Greek Mythology, already knew how to deal with most of the monsters. But if that meant that training of demigods could slack off was a debatable matter.

Rowena knew, that while he was lazy, Harry never slacked off with his sword skills and magic, so no problems there. He was a lot like Godric - he used his sword as primary, while magic was mostly used to supplement his sword skills, or to catch enemies offgaurd. So while she was not exactly worried for her brother too much, she could not say the same for the rest of her siblings or any other demigod.

Harry had given her with the necessary information about his siblings, but not so much about his friends. Granted, she did not ask, but that was besides the point.

Rowena turned towards her brother, "WAKE UP!" She yelled. Harry's eyes snapped open, and they immediately took in his entire surroundings. As soon as he realized that he was in a safe environment, his posture relaxed.

"Oh, hey, good morning, Chiron!" Harry said with a yawn.

"Good morning, Harry," Chiron smiled at his student.

"Anything important today?" Harry asked him, ignoring his sister's look of annoyance.

"There is a Counselor's meeting in the afternoon, just after lunch." informed Chiron.

"Of five, six at max, cabins?" Harry asked.

He knew exactly how many people were year-rounders, and how many came for the winter session. At present, not counting himself, any campers that had changed their decisions about being year-rounders or not, and any new members, there were four from Hermes, two each from Apollo, Athena, and one each from Ares, Aphrodite, and Demeter.

Total campers at present, and this included him, were twelve. It was not even half the campers present in Hermes during summer.

"Well, it is necessary about the events planned for winter solstice."

Harry nodded. There were rumors that there was something special this solstice, ranging from gladiator tournament where the participants were Party Ponies to more reasonable ones like a hilarious argument between Zeus and Hera that was video taped. This was considered reasonable because during last summer, the orientation movie was switched with that video. Consequently, the video got over five million views on the internet in the first three months.

They were arguing about which was the best pony from _My Little Pony_.

"Given the fact that you were awake the entire night, Harry, sleep for two hours now. I understand the Athena cabin has only Monsters Class right now, which you tend to skip." Chiron said.

Rowena was openly glaring at Harry, now. "Hadrian. What have I told you about skipping classes?" Her voice was eerily calm and had a steely edge to it. It was even scaring Chiron. He wondered if he should have simply given the dish washing duty as punishment. Chiron may seem like he is taking your side, but then he also does what he does best: teach you a lesson.

Harry gulped. His sister only used his real name when he was deep trouble. "N-not too..."

"Then why did you?" Her voice was still calm.

"B-because..." Harry tried to look for an excuse. Luckily for him, his brain worked a lot more faster than most people's, so he found one before it may seem like he was looking for one, even though his brain was half asleep. "You had already taught me everything."

Rowena relaxed a bit. This was why she was against teaching him too much from an early age. "That may be acceptable, but no. More. Skipping. Classes. Am I clear?"

"As an object of zero opacity." Harry replied.

"Good. You have still lost your gaming privileges."

Harry almost cried at that one. Almost. Chiron, meanwhile, smirked. Harry may almost always have the perfect excuse for slacking off, but even Chiron knew what happens when a child of Athena tends to get angry.

* * *

The bus sped on the road to Manhattan. It carried all the demigods in Camp Half Blood (all dressed in the orange camp shirt and blue jeans), along with Chiron and Argus. Olympus, for the first time in eight centuries, had opened its doors for a field trip from Camp. While there was no guarantee that the children would meet their parents, it was still quite exciting.

Argus was driving, while Chiron (in wheelchair form) was seated in the front seat, ears covered by headphones (Frank Sinatra) and a copy of the _Odyssey_ (the original one, gifted to him by Homer) in hand. Travis and Connor Stoll were drawing penises on Lee Fletcher's sleeping face, and Katie Gardner was trying to reel them in. Lee's sister Melanie Jones was engrossed in her iPod while stealing glances at Harry at the back seat, who was engaged in an intense game of Yu-Gi-Oh! with Luke. They were being cheered by Malcolm and Chris respectively, while Annabeth was reading her architecture book. The remaining two campers, Silena and Clarisse were having what most, if not all, boys perceived as girl-talk.

Mr. D had already gone ahead to Olympus.

Chiron took off his headphones as the bus pulled into the parking lot, and signalled for campers to get off.

"Haha you're face!"

"What about my face?!"

"My Red Eyes would have definitely destroyed your remaining life points!"

"Nonsense, Luke! I had Mirror Force face down. You have no cards faced down. Hence my Summoned Skull would have destroyed you next turn, had we played."

"Can we go to Olympus now? I still have eight chapters in this book!"

Chiron took a deep breath, "Everyone quiet!" He then addressed everyone. "Lee, wipe your face. There are a few all-clearing wipes in the first-aid box. Travis and Connor, dish-washing when we get back." The son of Apollo nodded, and did as instructed. Travis and Connor high-fived, "Totally worth it!" "Lets put these pictures on the internet!"

Chiron continued. "Harry, Luke. Pack up those cards. No one cares who won." The two boys grumbled, but did as told. "And, if no one has any more questions, lets continue."

Chiron led his demigod charges in the Empire State Building, stopping briefly to talk with the security. He was handed a red card, and all campers were ushered into an elevator at the back.

Harry found it a bit odd that Olympus was located on the 600th floor. He did wonder what lay on floors 103 to 599, but had a sinking feeling that Chiron would give him a vague answer, so he dropped it. And who the hell chose _The_ _Imperial March_ as the elevator song?

That person deserved an award.

"Am I the only one who thinks this is not an appropriate elevator song?"

"Actually, I'm with Annabeth here."

"Annie. Silena. Its Star Wars. Your argument is invalid."

Silena pouted at Harry, while Annabeth huffed. Everyone else nodded at Harry's words.

Chiron was not included in this.

* * *

Everyone stood just inside the gates of Olympus. Chiron stood in horse-form in front of the twelve awed children, having just completed a head count. They could make out everything from here. Their parents' temples, the Throne Room, a marketplace, and what seemed like a... dragon racing arena? Olympus was an entire city, and not just a grand palace like what most had imagined.

"We are not allowed into the Throne Room until the meeting ends, signified by the twelve bells that will ring," Chiron said. "Now I know that most of you would like to run around Olympus, and some of you (he was looking at the Stolls) would love to break in to your parents' temples, but I cannot allow you to do that."

The two siblings that most confused for twins simply looked at him innocently, as if they were sweet little angels that could do no wrong.

"And helping me here today," Chiron added, "will be Lady Hestia herself."

Everyone cheered at that.

"Wait, isn't she needed in their meetings?" Malcolm asked.

Chiron was about to reply when someone else did it for him. "I'm sure they can handle themselves without me for one meeting, dear."

All of them turned towards the source of the voice: an eight-year-old girl with mousy brown hair and a simple brown dress, and she wore a scarf over her head. Her eyes seemed to be glowing with fire, except it was the sort of fire that comforted you, and not the type that burnt you.

"Lady Hestia," Chiron said, bowing. The campers followed suit. "Oh now," she said, "none of that. This is an informal meet, after all."

"Lady Hestia," Chiron said. "I thank you again for agreeing to this. But, just to be on the safer side, are you sure your presence is not required in the Council?" He had asked that because she had informed him that she was going to help in chaperoning the campers this very morning.

Hestia looked at the centaur.

 _"We have a serious problem! Someone ate all of the chocolate chip cookies!"_

Hestia sighed. "Like I told you this morning, Chiron, my presence over there is not mandatory."

The goddess then turned towards the demigods. "Your parents did send a few messages for you." She smiled when all of them got excited looks. Except Luke, who was frowning.

"Luke, Hermes –"

"I don't mean any disrespect, Lady Hestia but I don't want to hear it."

Everyone was shocked that Luke interrupted a goddess, but Hestia merely looked at him in disappointment. Frankly, Luke had no idea how she did that, but he genuinely felt bad and sorry for himself.

"Very well," She said. Hestia then addressed the others. "Travis and Connor. Though it pains me to say this, but Hermes is quite proud of your pranks, and wishes that you, Chris, would join in."

"He is proud?!" Travis nearly yelled. "Sweet!" Connor exclaimed. "Not happening," Chris muttered.

Hestia continued to give all the messages their parents had to say to their demigod children.

Lee received archery tips. Apollo had also given him a few instructions on how to pick up girls, but Hestia had rather conveniently forgotten them. Melanie was told that she would find happiness in her musical career, Katie was instructed to eat cereal and stay away from any child of Hermes. Or it was possibly Hades; Hestia had not heard it clearly, but she was not aware of any child of Hades after her idiot brothers took that Oath. Silena was told that she should not wait, at which the girl blushed. Annabeth and Malcolm were told how proud Athena was, and that they should keep up the good work.

Hestia now knew what Hermes went through; it was exausting and there were only two left. But that did not matter to her; if her family was happy, then she was happy. She also enjoyed putting smiles on the children's faces when they had to hear what their parents thought of them.

Hestia sighed, before her eyes regarded the eldest of the three children of Athena. "Hadrian." Harry perked up, listeneing intently. "Your mother, while quite proud of your achievements, she does not want you to sleep in your classes." Harry's shoulders slumped in defeat. He could feel Silena smirk at him, while Annabeth was him that 'I-told-you-so' look. "Ok, I get it I am lazy, but that does not mean you all should rub it in my face!" Harry snapped at Luke as the older boy opened his mouth, eyes twinkling with mischief.

Hestia then looked at the final camper, Clarisse. Ares, being the oaf that he is, was not happy with her, and had said in less than kind words on how men made better soldiers. It was possibly brought on by the fact that Clarisse could not defeat Luke or Harry in combat.

Hestia simply told the girl that while Ares was proud of her, he felt that there was room for improvement.

Clarisse took it to heart, vowing to train more.

* * *

After a very interesting trip of Olympus, the campers, Chiron and Hestia arrived at the Throne Room. And yes, there was an actual arena where dragons raced. It was closed down because someone (coughZeuscough) accidentally destroyed a major portion when his favorite dragon did not win.

The Throne Room was empty, apart from the twelve large thrones, and plastic chair in one side. Two were the largest, obviously Zeus and Hera, with the remaining thrones arranged according to their corresponding cabin numbers. To be more accurate, the cabins were arranged according to the arrangement of thrones.

"We're finally here, the Throne Room," Lee said dramatically.

"Wait, that is just left there?" Connor asked, refering to Zeus's Master Bolt that was resting near the foot. "Well, there is the helmet on that chair as well," his brother stated, pointing towards the evil looking helmet at the armrest of the plastic chair.

"Possibly because no one would dare take them," Harry replied. "Those are the Helm of Darkness and the Master Bolt. Touching them would be suicide."

"Well, rest up. Lunch will be served shortly," Hestia said, drawing their attention.

She got astonished replies of "Wait, here?" and "Would that be okay?" as well as "Why is Apollo's throne covered with so much glitter?"

"Oh, I'm sure my little brother would not mind," Hestia replied."If he complains, then he has to raise the issue with me. But that does not mean that you all can be messy eaters."

The campers looked at her in confusion. Chiron did not feel the need to tell them that when annoyed, Hestia terrified all twelve Olympians, and hence they let her do as she pleased for the most part.

While the campers awaited their lunch, Harry approached his mother's throne. Annabeth and Malcolm followed their big brother. They stopped barely a meter away from it. "Why did you come here," Annabeth questioned.

"I wanted to know more about mom," Harry replied.

"And her throne is going to tell you?" Malcolm asked rhetorically.

"It already has," Harry said evenly. His mom was a hypocrite! Telling him to pay attention when she was not doing the same!

"What?" Annabeth asked incredulously. She did not understand how a throne would tell him anything about Athena. Malcolm was just as confused.

"Alright you two," Harry said. Both his siblings listened intently. "Apart from the obvious locations where she keeps Aegis and her spear, she was quite bored during the meeting. Which was why, she opened a packet of M-n-M's. This tells me that she was already aware of what was going to be reported and was not paying attention fully. By this, we can also conclude that mom knows a lot more about the remaining eleven than she lets on."

Annabeth looked a bit scandalized when Harry said Athena did not pay attention during the Solstice meeting. "How can you be so sure?"

Harry pointed to the fallen MnM at the side of her throne. For some reason, it was a normal sized one and not one meant for a god, so no one noticed it. "See that? That is quite near to her throne and quite far off from Lady Artemis's. Why does anyone open candy at such meetings?"

"Because they're bored," Annabeth muttered. "If she was hungry, she would have gone for sandwiches or something, right?"

"Correct. But she needed to pass the time somehow. So she conjures up MnM's, normal sized ones, and eats them. Normal sized as she could eat them discreetly even in her god form."

Annabeth and Malcolm had varied reactions. Annabeth seemed a bit sad because now she could not guilt trip her older brother into doing his own work. Until she realized that Athena does to her own work, but simply does not pay much attention during the meeting.

Malcolm was more or less indifferent to it.

Unknown to them, Hestia smirked; Harry was a lot more perceptive than she gave him credit for. That was Athena's behavior during most solstice meetings down to the tee.

Soon enough, an aura (a wind spirit) rolled in with the lunch. Hestia could have prepared it herself, but when the food was being prepared by the kitchen of gods (quite literally) she did not feel the need to cook.

* * *

That night, when the campers were back at Camp, the weather seemed to have gone ballistics. Lightning strikes were everywhere, and the sea was not calm either. Every camper knew that the two brothers were fighting. Again. So no one really took any notice, knowing that it would pass after a while.

But when it would not pass for months on end, they knew something big had happened. Even if they did not know what.

Meanwhile, for one Percy Jackson at Yancy Academy, the nightmares would just begin.

* * *

 **A/N: I hope I satisfied you all with this, and I also hope it was worth the wait. Updates will slow down quite considerably by October, as that is when my college begins. By then, I will hopefully have completed a major part of Lightning Thief, which formally begins next chapter.**

 **Oh, and any RWBY elements or characters, which I do not own, will only be making rare, if any, appearances apart from a few mentions here and there.**

 **Also, in a hopefully rare case of unprofessionalism, I completely forgot to mention last chapter that when Godric's sword accepted Harry, his, as in Harry's name, was engraved on to it in place of Godric's. It has been fixed.**

 **As for the Du'at storage, Kane Chronicles and Percy Jackson Universe are the same, so I thought why not add a bit of Egyptian Magic? And no, no Egyptian Gods or other Kane Chronicles characters are going to appear, so don't get your hopes up. But, Egyptian magic might make more of an appearance.**

 **See you next chapter!**

 **Hope you enjoyed!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer and warnings: refer Chapter One**

* * *

 **A/N: Review Time!**

 **Kenka: That was the general idea.**

 **Gord (guest) (review for chapter 2): I think many of you are concerned about this, even though only one person commented on it. I guess that was my fault. Originally, Rowena was supposed to teach Harry everything. But that made him a bit too powerful. Instead, to slow down his progression to balance out the story, I made it like she was reluctant to teach him everything all at once. But she _has_ taught him quite a bit; till now no such situation has cropped up that requires Harry to show his abilities.**

 **AnFan-n-More: If the 'last bit' you were referring to was the part after the Olympus trip, I can understand where you're coming from. I had no idea how to end the last chapter, so I winged it. Hopefully this does not happen again. If you were talking about the trip as a whole, which was a planned event, then I apologize that I did not deliver it to the best of my ability.**

 **yukicrewger2: Let's go with the sweet tooth thing.**

* * *

Chapter Four

* * *

(January 2005, Scotland)

Voldemort smirked to himself. He maybe a small, baby-like creature that barely held as much power as he used to, but at least his greatest enemy, that Potter brat, was gone. To be more precise, missing. Dumbledore, the second person whom Voldemort prayed would be dead, had lost him.

He had spies everywhere, loyal followers that kept him updated. The Malfoys were doing their job nicely in the political area, maneuvering the Minister to pass laws that allowed wizards and witches, granted that they were purebloods, to harass muggles as they pleased. Unfortunately that was the only good law that they had passed.

Fenrir Greyback, the werewolf, was keeping his pack loyal to his cause, but Voldemort did not trust lesser beings. He was having enough troubles with Pettigrew and Barty. He just had to wait till the Triwizard Tournament was announced. Then he would be accomplishing two tasks with the same idea. One was to determine whether Harry Potter was alive or not – the Goblet would call him to Hogwarts if he gets chosen. The other was his own revival. The winner of the tournament would be selected as the sacrifice in his revival.

Voldemort had already ordered an attack on the Quidditch World Cup Tournament Final after the match was over as a warning. The attack would herald his awakening.

Little did Voldemort know, that the Triwizard Tournament would be cancelled because of new regulations regarding international games passed by the ICW, which had reformed its ways quite a bit because of divine ruling.

* * *

(May 2005; outskirts of Düsseldorf, Germany)

Sirius Black. A billionaire, playboy, and not much of a philanthropist. However, he was on the run from British aurors. No wait, they were incompetent. He was on the run from dementors. Mostly because he made a mistake. A big, big, big mistake. Only if he had not switched with the rat faced Pettigrew. Then he would have been the secret keeper, and James, Lily, and Harry would have been safe.

Or better yet, if the three of them had stuck with their original plan: Lily would cast the fidelius charm, and James would be the secret keeper. That way, they would not have died. But Dumbledore had convinced them otherwise, to let Pettigrew be the secret keeper. For some reason, they had agreed readily. It was almost as if Dumbledore had used a compulsion, but he was not sure.

After all, why would Dumbledore stray away from an obvious strategic move to a less reliable and fallible one? Surely the old headmaster did not want the three of them dead, right?

Prolonged exposure to dementors had, to put it in crude terms, fucked up his mind. Sure, it was healing steadily and slowly, but the nightmares persisted. He was capable of most day-to-day activities, as he always had been. Who knew dementors ignored your animagus form? But even then, he could not separate dreams from reality.

The silver lining was that this was his mental state nearly a year ago, when he escaped. Now, however, he could separate the two. His occulumency, an art taught to all Blacks from an young age, began to work smoothly only three months ago, allowing him to sort through his memories, and decide which were real, which were dreams, and which were nightmares or false ones brought about by dementor exposure.

And now, here he was, in an old Black property in the outskirts of Düsseldorf in Germany. He had chosen this location for two reasons. One, it was managed by house elves that were originally loyal to Dorea Potter (nee Black) before she married into the Potter family, and hence were quite happy to receive him. Two, Magical Germany and Magical Britain had never seen eye-to-eye, and hence the government here was quite happy to grant him asylum after they had heard his story under veritaserum.

Sirius was more worried about his godson, Harry, more than anything else. He knew not what had happened to the boy after hs survived Voldemort's killing curse. That incident had apparently made him famous worldwide, and quite frankly, it was quite obvious that such an event would. There were still debates on how he survived. Sirius knew this because the local newspaper still printed seemingly plausible theories about it. The German (and French) lessons he was forced to take by his mother were sure coming in handy.

Again, thanks to his mental barriers and his mental organization kicking in, he was able to tell for sure that James confiding in him that James was the son of a goddess and not Dorea Potter, was not his imagination. In fact, he could also recall that James and Lily had told him of their encounter with a goddess in Godric's Hollow, and the details of how Harry was born.

It was funny as to what should have been his imagination was not actually his imagination.

Sirius had sent his house elves to locate Harry, and had given them a photograph of baby Harry that he had taken from the ruins of the Potter Cottage in Godric's Hollow. The elves were instructed to contact him first, and not make any moves towards any child resembling him; it would no doubt come around to bite him in the ass later if the elves kidnapped the wrong child. Or his godson if he was being raised by the goddess that birthed him.

Just like Dumbledore had, albeit unknown to Sirius that the old headmaster had done such a thing, Sirius had found someone who might be his godson in America. Unlike Dumbledore, Sirius knew that this boy was his godson, as the elves had taken a photograph of him and brought it to him

James's features on that face were unmistakable, even though the boy wore no glasses.

Getting to the US was the problem. Sirius knew that unlike most magical governments, USA's magical government was a part of its muggle one since the sixties. Which was why, smuggling into the States was nearly impossible because of the wards and runes placed at all docks and airports. Sure, they weren't perfect, but they still would pick up a magical signature like his.

His only option was that he apparated there with the help of his house elves, and hope that he was not caught. But the house elves were old, and were tired to the point of exhaustion when they made the trip themselves while carrying no one. He doubted if they would be able to do so carrying him with them.

The reason he could not use legal means to go to the States was because the Embassy refused to grant him a Visa, and the fact that he had no passport, or the documents necessary for one. Germany had given him a place to stay, not citizenship.

So, he was left with only one option: portkey. Again, without a Visa or passport, use of an internationally certified portkey was out of the question. He had to make one himself. Portkeys meant for inter-continental travels were not the usual ones created by a simple chant of 'portus'. No, apart from that, they required a lot of runes and arithmancy formulae for them to operate smoothly.

He was no expert in either subject, but he did meet a witch at a local bar who held a masters degree in Runes who had agreed to help 'this poor man in search of his godson'.

After the drinks had worn off, and the clothes were worn back on, of course.

He did feel bad about using her like this, so he had come clean the next morning. While she was understandably angry and felt betrayed, she none the less agreed to help him, for a hefty price. What she was doing was illegal, after all.

Sirius could access his Gringotts account, thanks to goblin policy that any account holder can access their money, irrespective of their status. But only if the status was decided by human law systems. So paying the witch was of no consequence. Only the Longbottoms' and the Potters' coffers were larger than, if not as large as, the Blacks'.

Of course, neither family actually stated their net worth in public, but that was besides the point.

Sirius could only wait until his newly hired employee was finished with the portkey.

* * *

(June 2005, Camp Half Blood, New York)

Perseus Jackson, better known as Percy to all his friends, enemies and basically everyone, was having what he felt to be the worst summer in his life.

It had all begun when a Fury attacked him at school. Then, he found out that his best friend was a bit insane, given how he started to freak out because Percy witnessed a few old ladies cut a string.

Later that week, it had become a bit better when his mother took him to Montauk, but that was when shit hit the fan.

Grover had found them at the cabin they stayed in, and then he was forced to tell his mother everything. Then, his mother had forced the two of them into Smelly Gabe's Camaro, and drove off towards some hill.

Oh, and Percy found out that Grover was half-goat. What were they called? Oh right, Satyrs.

They did not make it, as they were attacked first by lightning, and then by the Minotaur. Grover had fallen unconscious, but quite tragically Percy lost his mother to the Minotaur. After Percy killed it with his bare hands, which he believed to be a stroke of luck, he had fallen unconscious.

About a day later, he had woken up in what seemed to be an infirmary, with a cute blonde girl standing over him. She had asked him questions that left him more confused than he already was, and luckily saved by Grover. Him being a satyr was not Percy's imagination, as it turned out he actually was a satyr.

Grover had taken Percy to Mr. Brunner, whose real name was Chiron, and a chubby man that Percy was sure was an alcoholic. He was apparently a god, Dionysus, but more commonly referred to as Mr. D. The blonde girl, introduced as Annabeth Chase by Chiron, was also present, along with a raven haired boy, who had the same eyes as Annabeth's, except his had a slight greenish tinge to them. He introduced himself as Hadrian Potter, but asked Percy to call him Harry. Both were wearing the orange Camp shirt, that Percy was also wearing for some reason.

Harry had also almost gotten in an argument with Mr. D when the god dissed science. But the boy had also told Percy that 'D' stood for 'Drunkard.' Which was quite accurate, if you were to ask anyone.

And that was his current situation right now, with Harry asked to show Percy around.

* * *

When Annabeth and Chiron had dragged the new kid over the Border, Harry had been a bit unsure as to what make of him. He sometimes felt like punching him. That was totally NOT brought on by the fact that his little sister spent so much time trying to wake him up, no matter what anyone might say. Especially Luke, Beckendorf and Silena.

A day after Percy (Chiron told him the new kid's name) was brought to Camp, Harry was called to the Big House by Chiron. Harry did not like it; Beckendorf had found these really interesting parts made out of Celestial Bronze and a blueprint of an automaton dragon, and Harry had agreed to help him out with it.

His first impression of an awake Percy was that he was an idiot. Not because he disrespected Mr. D – Harry did that quite often himself – but because of his general ignorance. He was mildly impressed when Percy figured out Mr. D's true identity, which only 30.56% (he knew; he calculated) of the Camp figured it out on their first meet with him, with or without prompting from the god.

Chiron had not let Percy see the Orientation Film. Harry knew why; someone had exchanged the film with another hilarious video of the Olympians.

This time it was Poseidon doing flips as a dolphin. It had more views than the previous one about Zeus and Hera on YouTube. Consequently, a comment had called him a 'faker who manipulated the video to make himself look cool'. Seriously, who keeps taking these videos?

Harry had not asked why he was summoned; to him it was quite obvious. Chiron believed Percy to be the one who might know either the whereabouts of the Master Bolt, or he was Big Three Material. Percy had himself proved the former to be false with his sheer ignorance, and the later was yet to be decided.

Harry only knew of the Master Bolt being stolen because he was a suspect in the beginning. He did have the brains necessary, as well as the tools: his magic and a piece of Thanatos's cloak. But Harry, much to Zeus's dismay (and secret pleasure – he hated the look his daughter gave him when he threatened her son), had stated that he had no motive, and his Cloak was with his elder sister. Rowena had also confirmed this.

Also, Harry was constantly with his siblings, or Silena during the trip, a fact that even Hestia could say with absolute certainty. These facts had taken him off the list of suspects.

He was asked not to reveal it to anyone, including his siblings and friends. He hated keeping secrets from his siblings, but understood the reason. It would not do if the fact that the Bolt was missing was leaked. Olympus's enemies would stop at nothing to attack.

Of course, Harry was quite delighted to show Percy around. Now he could ascertain exactly whose son Percy was.

When the two began from the Big House, Percy had seemingly noticed the Oracle. Unlike Chiron, who had given Harry a vague answer when he had asked him about the attic - why Chiron gave him a vague answer he did not know (but had a fair idea: Chiron did not want to mentally scar him) - Harry had not hidden it from Percy. Seriously, it wasn't even that scary. While Harry had not been allowed to visit the attic, he had done so anyways, mostly because his curiosity got the better of him. Granted, he had just taken a peek and got out before Mr. D could catch him, it still counted right?

They had seen the woods, where Harry warned Percy not to go without weapons as they were teeming with monsters, deadly traps, unpredictable automatons, and a lot of holes filled with root beer. When Percy asked about the last one, Harry simply replied with 'Party Ponies.' Percy dropped it when the older boy did not explain any further.

"So what are the woods used for?" Percy asked.

"A lot of events. Tracking and hunting, Capture the Flag games, special events, and for the brave and bold, a place to..." Harry trailed off, not wanting to complete the sentence, remembering that Percy was only twelve. Besides, there had to be a reason as to why Ashley, Harry's older sister and the previous Cabin Six counselor, and David Watson, the previous Cabin Seven counselor, would visit the woods at night and come out disheveled a few hours later, right?

"Which reminds me," Harry said, changing the subject even before Percy could ask more details. "You don't have your own armor or sword, do you?"

Percy shook his head. He thought it would be best if he did have one, if the woods were stocked with all those monsters.

Harry hmm'd. "A size five should fit nicely. Visit the armory later."

Harry showed him the canoeing lake, the volleyball court, soccer field, basketball court, stables where a few pegasi galloped around (Percy swore he heard something like 'Lord has arrived' but that was surely his imagination).

Next on the list were the archery and javelin ranges, an amphitheater for sing-along and campfire, and the arena for sword, spear and hand-to-hand fights.

Then they had moved to the strawberry fields, which Harry explained helped bring in the revenue. They were being tended by Demeter's kids. When Harry showed him the open dining pavilion, Percy was confused as to what they did if it rained or snowed. Harry then had to explain how the Camp Borders worked.

And finally, they had arrived by the Cabins. There were twelve of them, nestled in the woods and arranged in a U around the lake. To Percy, they were the most bizarre looking buildings.

"That is Cabin One, which of course, belongs to Zeus," Harry said, pointing towards the biggest and bulkiest of them all, which was made out of white marble and bronze doors that looked as if lightning was constantly streaking across them. "And no, the size is not proportionate to his ego." Percy looked at him oddly as the sky rumbled.

"Then we have Cabin Two, which belongs to Hera." Harry pointed to the much more elegant one with engravings of peacocks and garlands of flowers and pomegranates around them.

"And that is Poseidon?" Percy asked, pointing to the one that was long and low and solid. The walls were of rough gray stones with corals and seashells, as if it had been hewn from the deep ocean floor. Harry nodded, mildly impressed for the second time.

"Why are they empty?" Percy asked. "Didn't they have like a gazillion kids in the past?"

Harry sighed. "Firstly, gazillion is not a number. Secondly, World War 2 was started because of the kids of Zeus, Poseidon and Hades. They agreed that their kids were too powerful, and hence swore an oath on the Styx that they won't have anymore kids. That is the reason why."

Percy nodded, "Did it work?"

"Nope. Not at all," Harry replied. "A few years ago, Zeus breached the wall without the protective Trojan Horse."

"What?"

"You know, rode the fun-cycle without protective gear."

"I don't understand."

"Oh for the love of!" Harry exclaimed. "Had sex without a condom!"

"Oh!" Percy said smartly. "What happened?"

"Hmph. As the story goes, Zeus's daughter, Thalia, was on the run with Luke, a son of Hermes, and Annie, my little sister," Harry explained. "About five years ago, the three of them arrived here, but Hades had sent his monsters after them. Well, her specifically. She sacrificed herself to save her friends, but Zeus, being the loving father he is, turned her into a tree that strengthens the Camp borders rather than, I don't know, send a freaking medic!"

The sky rumbled, which startled a saddened Percy but was ignored by Harry.

"Oh, and don't ever mention this to Annie," Harry said, his eyes glowing menacingly. "She still cries at night sometimes. I do not like seeing her cry. If you do... Well your imagination must be strong enough."

Percy nodded fearfully. While Mr. D had glowing eyes as well, Harry's were far more intimidating. How he did it Percy did not know, and was too afraid to ask at this point. Harry smirked, "Well as long as the point is made clear."

He had simply channeled some magic into his eyes. While this enhanced the perception of vision to a degree, it also made his eyes glow. After barely a second or two, Harry stopped. Magic was a form of energy, and channeling it anywhere (inclusive of wands) made the object heat up. Prolonging the magic into his eyes would mean that they would dry up.

"Let's move on," Harry said.

* * *

After Harry had shown him the remaining Cabins, and told him to learn their numbering by heart, Harry took him to Cabin Eleven. On the way, they were joined by Annabeth. Percy made the mistake of calling her 'Annie', mostly because Harry did the same.

The girl coldly told him to call her Annabeth, as only her big brother could call her 'Annie', and that was only because she couldn't get him to stop.

"This will be your home for now," Harry said as they arrived at the Hermes Cabin. Before Percy could question him on the "for now" comment, Harry addressed the Hermes campers. "This is Percy Jackson. He will be your new cabin mate."

Percy looked inside the door, to see at least thirty to forty kids, a few of them having mischievous grins and smiles, as if they wanted to steal his stuff. No way he was putting his horn out of his sight.

"Determined or undetermined?" A camper asked.

Percy had no idea what to say, but Annabeth answered for him, "Undetermined."

The cabin members collectively groaned.

"Now, now," said Luke. "That is what we are here for. Hermes accepts all the unclaimed children of gods, and of course, his own, so here you are."

"This is Luke," Annabeth said, a small blush on her face. Harry scowled, if Annabeth did not go out of her fangirl phase, he might have to beat the crap out of Luke. As to why he would do that, he would think of that after Annie had lost her feelings for the son of Hermes.

He was not worthy of her. Well, no one was, but that was just Harry's opinion.

Luke then pointed to an empty spot on the floor. "You can take that spot."

"So I stay here until I get claimed?" Percy asked.

Luke nodded.

"How long does that take?"

The entire cabin laughed at him.

"Laugh all you want," Harry said. "And don't you dare say that neither one of you thought the same, 'cause I remember each and every one of you asking the same thing to either Chiron, Luke, or myself."

The laughter died down, and a few kids looked down in shame. Most were in the same boat as Percy was, and they should not have laughed. But the Hermes kids were still grinning mischievously.

Harry then turned towards Percy, who had a grateful look on his face. "To answer your question, that takes anywhere between next five minutes and eternity."

Percy nodded, feeling a bit depressed. It was a possibility that his father would never claim him.

Much to Percy's confusion, however, Annabeth dragged him off to the Volleyball court. Harry sighed, he was going to punch someone. Did she actually believe that because Percy was acting like any new kid should, it would embarrass her in front of Luke? I mean, _Luke?_ His sister had no taste. But then he was a guy, and not a son of Aphrodite, so he would not know what made any guy attractive to girls.

He had tried to figure it out once, but he had failed horribly. Every time he thought he had figured it out, a girl did something out of his hypothesis, prompting him to start all over again. He had given up after 563 different hypotheses and four sleepless nights.

"You know, you're going to make me piss my pants if you don't let up on that glare," Luke brought Harry out of his thoughts.

"Ha-ha," Harry said sarcastically. "But I should get going after them. Hearing you speak is lowering my IQ."

"That hurts, right here," Luke said, grabbing his chest dramatically.

"Just hurts? I'm losing my touch. Anyways, catch you later, idiot."

"Whatever, nerd."

* * *

"Don't talk like that!" Harry heard Annabeth say. He ran towards her, wanting to rip that person to shreds who dared to talk squat about his sister. His worry was quelled when he heard "You know how many kids at this camp wish they'd had your chance?"

By this time, he had made it up to the two of them.

"I am guessing that you were talking about going out there and fighting monsters," Harry said, walking up to the arguing pair. When Annabeth nodded, Harry continued. "While I can understand your concern, I am quite sure that quite a few campers would love to stay inside and train rather than go out recklessly and fight. You of all people should know how dangerous it is out there. Especially if you have no knowledge of what's coming."

Percy nodded, but Annabeth retorted, "But I do have knowledge of–"

"You do. Does he?" Harry pointed towards Percy. "Percy here has no idea how most of the monsters really look like. I bet he is even confused as to how the Minotaur is still alive despite being killed by Theseus."

"Yeah, I was going to ask that," Percy interjected.

"That is because they are immortals. They can be dispelled for a while if you land a fatal blow, but reform over time," Harry explained while Annabeth huffed.

"So that demon math teacher I killed?"

Harry turned to Annabeth, giving her a I-told-you-so look, at which she rolled her eyes. "See, I told you those exist. But yes, the Furry you killed still exists. But very, very, angry."

"Furry? I thought they were Furies, like servants of Hades, right?" Percy asked as the sky rumbled.

Harry looked up, "Yeah, we get it that it's your time of the month, but it is rude to interrupt a conversation!"

Another rumble.

"Yeah, their official name is Furies. But most campers call them Kindly Ones. I call them Furries. Add an extra 'r' and it becomes quite demeaning," Harry replied. Annabeth rolled her eyes again. For all his genius, her brother acted like a complete idiot sometimes.

"...What does that mean?"

"You were a sheltered kid, were you not?" Harry asked rhetorically. Percy shrugged. "But what I've been meaning to ask is why–"

"Oh not this conversation again..." Harry muttered. "Ok, look, you can't enter any cabin other than your own without the counselor, Chiron or the god/goddess giving you permission to do so. So you cannot sleep in any of the empty ones like One, Two, Three, and Eight. Not that Two has any beds in it; it is just a honorary cabin."

Percy looked confused as to how Harry knew what his question was going to be, but before he could comment, the older boy continued.

"Hence, you have to wait till your godly parent, granted that he is not a heartless guy, claims you. Then you get shifted to that cabin."

"But my father is –"

"An immortal entity that can possibly bend the laws of physics and do miracles. Also called a god."

"I still don't think I–"

"This is why we show the orientation film," Harry said, but it was directed towards Annabeth, who nodded. Harry turned to Percy again. "How many times have you been kicked out of school?"

"How do you–"

"You keep looking here and there, as if you have ADHD. Possibly dyslexia as well. That is usually a sure sign."

"What do you mean?"

"And also, and I'll be blunt, despite the fact that you should be traumatized by the Minotaur and witnessing your mother's passing, here you are, enjoying your time."

Annabeth gasped lightly, not believing what her brother had said. It was true, but rude. Very rude.

Percy was stunned. He wanted to refute, say no, but when he thought back, he had spent about five minutes contemplating his mother's death. Then he had simply gone with the flow, like nothing had happened. He had not even been that angry as he should have been when Chiron said about how his story could possibly be a myth to console kids as to why they lost their mothers. He wanted to be mad, break something, and yet crawl into a corner and cry for her. But the tears were not falling.

Harry continued. "The reason is because your brain is built like a god's, yet for a mortal body. Deaths happen around demigods, even the rare ones in Camp. But never have I seen any camper being traumatized by witnessing a single death, even if the person who died was very close to them. They get sad, angry and other emotions as well, but no lasting damage what-so-ever."

Harry was of course, making it sound very easy. Of course, this all depended on the age of the demigod. Had Percy been a five year old, then he would have been traumatized by his mother's death. But as a twelve year old, it affected him, but not too much. Had he been seventeen, it would hardly affect him. Now, this was not to say that demigods don't get any mental damage – rather, it is hard to damage them mentally.

After all, their brains were built to withstand things like monsters, gods, nature spirits, etc. blowing things up, vaporizing mortals that were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and you get the idea.

Percy swallowed. "So I am half human. And half... god?"

Harry nodded. "Demigod. Half-blood. Godling. Take your pick. And sorry about my previous comment."

Percy dumbly nodded. He wanted to punch Harry, but before he could, a husky voice interrupted them.

"Look what we have here! A newbie!"

The voice belonged to Clarisse, of course. She had her underlings behind her – three big, ugly and mean looking guys. Clarisse was the smartest and strongest in the Ares Cabin, but still a lot less smart than Benjamin, Harry's youngest sibling and the second youngest camper. He was nine.

"Clarisse," Annabeth sighed. "Why don't you polish your spear or something?"

"Stay out of this princess," Clarisse said. "I have to welcome the new kid."

"And this is the might of the Ares Cabin," Harry muttered, loud enough for all to hear. "Four vs one, cause they're too afraid for one-on-one."

Clarisse growled. Percy had to further insult Clarisse because of his impulsiveness. Harry face-palmed along with Annabeth as Clarisee dragged Percy towards the bathroom.

"Aren't you going to do anything?" Annabeth turned towards her brother.

"Hmm? No. Percy needs something to vent his anger on. Clarisse makes a perfect target. Besides, this could give some insight towards his godly parent."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, my sweet little sister, if he slips by, then he is a son of Hermes. If he copes a feel, it's Apollo. I've already ruled out Hephaestus, Ares, and Dionysus for obvious reasons."

Annabeth nodded. Percy did not have any of the characteristics that demigod children of the three aforementioned gods possessed.

Just as she was going to follow up with another question, the bathrooms exploded with water, and other pleasantries found in the toilet. Harry and Annabeth were saved as Harry put up a barrier around the two. He didn't even require his wand; simple things like levitation, summoning, banishing, and barriers should not need a wand, as Rowena would tell him.

A second later, Percy, Clarisse and her brothers returned, with Clarisse promising to kill Percy.

Harry's eyes widened slightly as he linked Percy's condition (he was completely dry), the water explosion, and the only God capable of doing so. His ignorance and impulsiveness made a lot of sense now.

"Better?" Harry asked as the unclaimed son of Poseidon came up to them.

"Much. I still want to punch you though."

"Do that later. But I am assuming that you have questions."

Harry then spent twenty minutes answering Percy's questions about Chiron (yes he was the trainer of all ancient heroes), Grover (Percy was surprised to learn he was 28), why there weren't any other centaurs, and finally who was their (Harry's and Annabeth's) godly parent.

Percy also asked about Annabeth's bead necklace, which he had seen on every camper so far. Except for Harry.

After explaining how the bead system worked, Harry said that he had given his to someone very special and very dear to him.

"I can't believe that Hedwig still has not lost it," Annabeth commented.

"Please. Hedwig rocks the necklace. It does get difficult to add another bead, but she will not lose it."

Percy interjected. "Who's Hedwig?"

"My/his owl."

Just as Percy was about to inquire, Harry spotted a certain black haired girl in the distance. He turned towards Annabeth. "What time is it?"

"I don't know, but it was 4:30 when we left Cabin Eleven. Why?"

Harry cursed. "I may have promised Silena to help her with her homework at 4:30. When she kills me, I want the Schrödinger's Equation on my shroud and not the Einstein's Mass-Energy Conversion Equation."

Annabeth giggled (which surprised Percy; he did not think she was capable of giggling) as she watched her brother go towards what he claimed to be his death.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry if it ended abruptly. There are two reasons for this. I wanted to include Capture The Flag, but I felt that the chapter would get too long, and dragged out. The other reason is that I wanted to finish it as soon as possible as I will be away from any electronic device for at least two days. I will be out of my house, and visiting my grandaunt's house, which has no such facilities. So keep in mind that this chapter also has not undergone the same amount of editing as the previous ones. Please let me know if I have missed anything.**

 **Sirius's location was selected at random, when I chose six European countries and rolled a die. The city was chosen after I googled the country name and it's cities.**

 **Next chapter will cover Capture The Flag, and the beginning of the quest. If that does not take up too many words, then Medusa as well.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer and warnings: refer Chapter One.**

* * *

 **A/N: Review time!**

 **Blackholelord: Thank you for the constructive criticism, and I don't know what you meant by that video or whatever forcing you to go the bottom of the page... maybe a problem with the website. About the bashing thing, I like at least a little amounts of it. I am trying to keep mine at a minimum level, except for Dumbledore. Mostly because it should be pretty clear by now (and if it isn't, a small spoiler alert... well sort of) that he is going to be a secondary or a tertiary antagonist.**

 **Thundramon: Don't worry; if I get time I have a few more ideas that I may turn into stories.**

 **BijuuDamaBomber: That was my reaction as well. And if you notice, even in canon, the 'death' of Sally is brushed off after a while, apart from Percy wanting to revive her. There are almost no changes (at least by my opinion) to his character before and after that... and I personally think (though I didn't type it myself) that Percy would have shouted at Chiron at the very least when he said about Percy and his mother being a myth to explain how sons lose their mothers and how they cope or whatever (I don't have the book in front of me while I am typing this and I am too lazy to check what Chiron actually says, so correct me if I was wrong about what he said).**

* * *

Chapter Five

* * *

Malcolm charged towards Harry, his short-sword coming in an arc. Harry easily blocked it with his own blade, pushing his younger brother's sword away. Malcolm retaliated with a punch, which was dodged as Harry ducked underneath the blow, sweeping his leg across Malcolm's feet, making the eleven year old fall on the mat, his sword clattering away.

"C'mon, bro, you can do better than that," Harry taunted.

Malcolm, not ready to give up so easily, rolled to the side where his sword had landed, avoiding Harry's sword by mere centimeters. He picked it up, and held it diagonally opposite his body, blocking his older's brother's blade. He got knocked to the ground again by a kick in his side, and looked up, only to find Harry's sword a mere inch from his nose.

But all was not lost for the younger camper, as his reflexes were good enough that he had clasped Harry's blade in both his palms, his own sword lying at his side. Exerting a great deal of strength as he pushed Harry's blade away again, Malcolm stood up, "Just getting started, big bro."

Malcolm did not bother going back for his sword, which lay at Harry's feet. That was a bad tactical decision. It may seem as if having a weapon was better than fist-fighting, but Harry would never allow him to reach for it. He'd have to trick his older brother.

His older brother who was the smartest camper. And the best swordsman alongside Luke. Did he mention that until this point Harry's magical abilities were not even taken into consideration? If he did, Harry was the strongest in Camp.

"Act quicker! The enemy will never allow you this much time!" Harry exclaimed, bringing Malcolm out of his thoughts.

Well, partially. But how to...? That's it!

 _Always go for efficiency, and not complexity when creating strategies. A good strategy is both. A better strategy is so simple and yet effective that your opponents never think of it even though it maybe obvious... Mostly because they expect a child of Athena to whip out a gods-awful complex one._

Harry had always preached that.

It would be his undoing.

Malcolm just stood there, waiting for Harry to charge. Once he did, it would be easier for Malcolm to get his sword. The battle scenario played out into Malcolm's mind: Harry charges. Malcolm rolls to the side, and makes a go for his sword, all the while keeping Harry away from his blade.

A simple strategy. But it was probably an effective one. He could feel the remaining Athena campers' eyes on him, each of them having different tactics. Malcolm was vaguely aware that Annabeth was shaking her head, as if either one of them had made a mistake in her eyes.

Malcolm, however, was stunned after a second. Quite literally, as Harry fired a stunner from his sword. And thus, rather anticlimactically, ended their training session.

* * *

Malcolm woke up five minutes later, and found himself sitting on the side of the arena while Annabeth and Lyra Higgs (their sister; daughter of a nuclear physicist) fought.

"So, care to tell me where you went wrong?" Harry asked from his side, calmly observing their sisters' fight. This was the way he trained his siblings, by making them find out their own flaws. It was how Rowena taught him many things, and it was very effective. By doing so, they understood their mistakes, and would not make the same mistake again.

"I did not act too fast?"

"True, but go deeper."

"I waited for you to charge at me. I assumed that you would not use magic."

"Exactly," Harry said. "That was your biggest mistake. Never assume that your opponent will not use their entire resources they have at their disposal."

"What would you have done?"

"Simple. Charged at the foe. Which you should have done," Harry said as Lyra's spear was knocked aside. The girl rolled under Annabeth, who thought she was going for her spear. But instead, once Lyra got close enough, she supported her body on her arms, and kicked upwards. The blow connected with Annabeth's chest, who fell to her knees, gasping as air was forcefully knocked out of her lungs.

"Kind of like that," Harry said. "Lyra fooled Annie into thinking that she was going for her spear. But instead kicked, leaving no time for Annie to defend."

"But you would have knocked me to the ground," Malcolm said, not commenting further on the two sisters' spar. If he were to say anything else, then either of them might get an idea from an outside source. Harry had warned his siblings not to do so, as the outside world will not give them advice in the middle of a fight, and more importantly, doing so distracted you.

"True. Most likely I would have knocked you down. But that would give you a higher chance of retrieving your weapon, and thus evening out the odds," Harry replied. "Or, you could have surprised me with something else, like that surprise kick, or the disarming move I showed you last year. That way, I would lose my sword as well, and once again, we would be fighting on more or less even odds."

Malcolm nodded, feeling a bit embarrassed that he did not think of that. His strategy was simple, but not effective. Harry's strategy was also simple, but a lot more effective. Malcolm understood that this was what his older brother meant that day.

"But, why use magic in a sword fight?" Malcolm asked. "There is no honor in doing so."

Harry sighed. "When facing an opponent that is stronger, smarter or faster, or any combination of aforementioned characteristics, you should cheat by all means. Coming out of it alive is more important than hanging on to something as fickle as honor. Of course, this only holds true if you have _no_ other choice than to defeat him. Otherwise, do the logical thing and call for a tactical retreat."

Harry never believed in fighting with honor or pride. Sure, he only used magic when fighting against Alabaster Torrington (a son of Hecate) or Silena, but that was entirely by choice, and the fact that they were friendly spars than actual battles.

In an actual fight, Harry was not against using his magic if the situation called for it, even if it gave him an unfair advantage. Here, he had only used it to prove a point to Malcolm.

Malcolm nodded. He may not necessarily share the same opinion, but it made sense.

"I wanted to see your full speed, though," came the innocent voice of Benjamin, who was seated beside Harry. The rest of his siblings nodded, while Malcolm felt relieved that Harry had not.

Harry was quite fast with his sword, and usually his opponent had barely a split second to defend. Luke was the only one in Camp who could keep up with that speed, mostly because speed was Hermes's shtick.

The downside of using such fast strikes was that they usually lacked strength, but Harry's primary sword, _Stormbreaker_ (he used a standard Camp sword to train his siblings or in CTF) was extremely sharp, and its original wielder had claimed that it cut through drakon skin as well. Harry did not know the validity of that statement, as Godric had been all on his own while he fought that drakon, and Harry did not want to verify his ancestor's claim.

"No offence to Malcolm, but I doubt he would have been able to handle it," Harry replied. The spar between Lyra and Annabeth was almost finished.

"I know," Malcolm said.

"I thought that magic could be used only with wands or staffs," Benjamin commented.

Harry ruffled his youngest brother's hair, causing Benjamin to pout. "Not so, Ben. Magic can be used through wands, staffs, swords, or even your hands. The reason wands are used, is because wands tend to have their own magical cores, which are on an average, a hundredth of the average adult human magical core. Hence, it is simpler to channel magic through a wand."

Harry did not go into the overall details of channeling magic, as it was quite complex. For one, swords, even magical ones, had no core through which magic could be channeled. Magical swords were simply enchanted on the surface, and not on the inside. Luckily, most metals were capable of channeling magic, but most of the magical energy was absorbed by the sword as heat, and hence made for weaker spells.

Even in wands, which were made out of wood, it was not known how magic was transferred from the fingertips to the wood, and how it was capable of transmitting it. Wood by itself was incapable of channeling magic. Add in a core, like phoenix feathers, then it somehow channels magic with an efficiency of over 97% (meaning the wood does not even heat up considerably).

Wandless magic was even more complicated to explain, but relatively simple in terms of practice. Or course, that depended on the spell you wanted to cast wandlessly.

And that was just the tip of the iceberg.

"Hey, Harry!"

Harry turned around, to see the Hermes cabin approaching. Harry glanced at his watch, which said _3:30_.

"Yeah, Luke?" Harry said, even though he knew why they were here.

"We booked the arena at the 3:30 - 5:30 slot."

"Well, aren't you on time for once?" Harry asked sarcastically. Then he stood up, clapping his hands. "Lyra! Annie! That's enough! We're out of time. Flaws: Annie, you leave an opening near the right ribs every time you get in close. Lyra, that spear means you get to keep your distance! No reason to get in close! There were other mistakes made as well, but figure those out on your own!"

Both girls stopped, wiping the sweat off their faces. They nodded at Harry's words, knowing what they had to work on.

* * *

Harry sighed as he found Percy and Grover. He had been instructed by Chiron to teach Percy the basics. It was sort of his punishment for skipping out on Monster class. Harry didn't mind; it was far better than doing things like cleaning the stables.

The newer pegasi disliked him for being Athena's son. Or possibly because Hedwig keeps challenging them to race her. He did not speak horse, so he did not know.

The new Hermes cabin member and the satyr were sitting on the banks of the canoe lake, and discussing on who could possibly be Percy's godly father. This confused Harry. It was quite obvious it was Poseidon – the twelve year old could control water for Olympus's sake. Sure, there were other entities, but they were goddess – Thetis, Amphitrite, and the like. Triton was known to dislike (not hate) mortals, so he was ruled out. Zeus would have killed Percy a long time ago if he was the son of Oceanus.

So, by the process of elimination, and that left Poseidon (unless he missed out on some other non important water deity).

"Hey," Harry greeted from behind them, causing them both to jump.

"You scared me, Harry," Grover said, with Percy nodding.

"If you can't smell a demigod from just behind you, how are you going to smell a monster?" Harry asked the satyr rhetorically.

Grover blushed. "I'm used to demigodly scent... I grew up around it."

"Excuses."

"Monsters smell different! They have a distinct, disgusting–"

"Like demigods don't have a distinct, and in cases of some, disgusting smells. You need to work more on your sense of smell. How are you going to become a searcher if you can't even distinguish one demigod from another by scent alone?"

Grover looked down, not knowing how to respond to that.

"Stop picking on Grover!" Percy came to his friend's defense.

"Relax," Harry said. "I'm just fooling around. But what I said was the truth."

Percy relaxed slightly. "What are you doing here anyways?"

"Chiron told me to show you the ropes," Harry said. "Mostly because he does not want me to sleep in my cabin or goof around with Beckendorf in the forges, especially after what happened last time. Either that or he can no longer deal with the embarrassment of losing to a young teenager in a game of chess."

"I remember that one," Grover cut in. "You two nearly blew up the entire forge while designing some explosive, right?"

Percy was surprised. He had seen the forge. To blow that up would require a lot of fire power.

"A Greek fire fueled incendiary charge, yes," Harry said, annoyed. "And in my defense, I _did_ tell him _not_ to keep magnesium and petroleum in the same room, but did he listen?"

Percy and Grover shook their heads frantically. That glare he was giving them was unsettling.

"Anyways. Percy, walk with me," Harry all but ordered.

"Why?"

"Because I don't like to repeat myself."

Percy was confused, but luckily for him Harry continued. "You have ADHD. Sitting in one place for too long will divert your attention. However, if we are constantly moving, you will find it easier to pay attention."

Percy ahh'd at that, standing up. Grover stood up as well.

"Oh, and Grover, warn the council that Hedwig should be waking up anytime soon."

Grover whitened out, and bolted. Hedwig _despised_ the satyrs, and called them 'insufferable goat men things that don't goat or men'. Harry still did not know what that meant exactly. But despite his best efforts to calm her down about them, she still hated them.

Harry suspected it was because Silenus once threw a few seeds at her expecting her to eat them, but Hedwig refused to share the details. She would be undoubtedly insulted by that.

As to what she did to evoke such a reaction from Grover, finding owl droppings on the Cloven Council's usual meeting table along with half eaten rats was considered tame.

So yeah, they were quite wary of her.

The silver lining was that she was content with simply glaring at satyrs that were not members of the council.

"Why did Grover –"

"Don't ask. And lets stick to the subject. What all have you been taught so far?" Harry asked as they began walking in a random direction.

"Mostly about the gods, and monsters, but not much detail on either topic, and a lot of history," Percy said tiredly. He still had problems remembering them all.

Harry sighed. "Lets recap, starting with the Olympians. First we have Zeus..."

Percy sighed, preparing for a boring lecture. But what followed surprised him.

"...the king of all gods, and the strongest because no one bothered to check if that was true. He controls the sky, weather, and most importantly, lightning, and usually rains on everyone's parade. Likes include women. Any woman would do. Also, the Shifu Chinese Corner a few blocks behind the Empire State is a favorite. And, don't bother staring at his one true love – his Master Bolt – for too long; he might smite you. Dislikes include anyone capable of challenging his authority. Notable features: if he is standing in the middle of Central Park, his ego is visible from Brooklyn."

The sky was rumbling the entire time. Harry looked up at the sky. "If you have gas..." he trailed off.

The rumbling immediately stopped.

* * *

Harry and Percy had walked around the entire camp, except for the forest. Given their slow pace, and a few stops here and there, it took them almost two hours.

Percy learned a lot about Harry in the two hours. One, Harry enjoyed disrespecting gods (by mostly using harmless jokes to describe their behavior), and the older boy claimed it was because he was feeling rebellious. Two, the only Olympian he respected was his own mother, Athena. Three, he was quite overprotective of his siblings, given how he beat the crap out of three Ares kids bullying his youngest brother, Benjamin.

Also, his owl was quite scary – she was glaring at him for no reason. Currently, she was perched on his shoulder.

Harry had also taught him many things about the Mist, the monsters and their stories, and heroes of the old. Percy had no idea how, but he somehow remembered all that Harry taught him.

Maybe it was because Harry said it all in a way that easy to remember rather than the textbookish way most teachers Percy knew taught.

For one, Medusa's story was described as a quarrel between two teenagers over a toy. The Trojan war was defined as a war between idiots, as the Greeks thought a giant-ass horse would work and the Trojans who believed that accepting a gift from the people that attacked them was a good idea.

Percy did say that maybe the Trojans did not want to anger Poseidon, to which Harry scoffed and said that Troy's walls were capable of withstanding tidal waves, and "even Poseidon could only shake the earth so much before he gets sore."

Percy for some reason felt insulted by that, but brushed it off.

Harry had also revealed the existence of the hidden community of magic users. All demigods knew of this – all possessed some magic that was specifically attuned to their parents' powers – and it was unwise to keep Percy in the dark about it. The only reason he had not revealed it on his first day was because Harry did not want to overload Percy's brain with too much information.

If you were new to it, then taking in the existence of powerful entities that could either brighten up your day (quite literally) or kill you with just a look was a lot to take in.

Also, the magic demigods possessed was of a different variety than that of wizards. Non wizard demigods could not use wands, and in wizards who were demigods and not children of Hecate, the magic mixed. For example, Silena had received both charmspeak (though she never used it on her friends and family) and allure that made her much more attractive and desirable to the opposite sex (or the same one in some cases) from Aphrodite along with her usual variant of magic. Harry had natural occulumency shields (like all of his siblings) and a much higher intellect even when compared to his siblings, combined with parseltongue thanks to the demigodly variant of magic he inherited from Athena.

Harry did not know why Rowena did not have the ability to speak to snakes, and he had only found out that he did because of a trip to the zoo.

Salazar was over the moon when he found out.

In fact, if a demigod wished to use the type of magic that was used by wizards, there was only one wand in existence that allowed them to do so.

Harry and Percy parted ways after that, wanting to prepare for the Capture the Flag the following evening.

* * *

Percy came up to Harry as the older boy walked out of the commanding tent for their team. He was wearing the standard Greek armor and helmet with blue plumes. They were the blue team, with the opposing being red.

"Luke told me I have border patrol. What does that mean?"

"Simple," Harry said. "You stand by the creek and look busy and tough. If a cute girl notices you, then do some sword moves and you might get a date."

"What?"

"Fine, that never happens... but don't feel so down. All new kids always get border patrol."

With that, Harry joined Luke in the front. He could remember his first CTF when he was eight. He had border patrol, and was surrounded by older girls who thought he looked cute in that armor and a sword half his size.

Not one person got past them, mostly because he just had to act frightened of an incoming enemy, and the girls would kick their asses.

"How's the plan?" Luke asked. He knew the plan, but wanted to know what Harry thought about it.

"Could use some work, but it will get us the necessary victory,"

Luke and Harry were joined by the rest of the attack squad as Chiron came forward to start them off.

"I want a clean game! All magic items and spells – as long as they don't permanently cripple or kill – are allowed. Like always, it is Ares vs. Athena, with Athena having a winning streak for the past 20 games," Chiron said as few campers groaned. Chiron was looking at Harry as he said this, who simply looked innocently back at him.

He may have been banned from creating new strategies, but that did not mean that his siblings were slouches. It also did not mean that he was not allowed to help or correct their mistakes.

He loved loopholes.

"Remember," Chiron continued, "no killing or maiming. And without any further ado, let the Capture The Flag begin!"

He blew a conch horn, drawing back.

Harry addressed the attack squad. "You all know the plan?"

All responded in affirmative.

"Yeah... Though I don't know why it would work – I mean surely Clarisse is not _that_ stupid to fall for an obvious trick..." one camper stated.

Harry shrugged. "When your pride is hurt, then you tend to do stupid things. CTF is the perfect way to beat someone up and not get yelled at. And as for it being obvious, well, there is a reason why oldest tricks in the book still exist."

"Yeah, I guess. Let's go."

* * *

Harry and Luke had split up a while back from the attack squad and from each other. Harry and Luke had the same destination, but different routes. Harry had a direct one, Luke had to take a longer way. Luke _did_ want the direct one, but Harry explained that he (Harry) was the best person to approach them head-on: he could easily use magic to take them out.

Luke did not bother arguing back; he used to have problems winning an argument against a seven year old Annabeth.

The rest were tasked with taking out the rest of the opposing attackers and defenders.

Luke had reluctantly agreed.

He was now almost at their base, and was well hidden in some thick bushes. He could have used his Cloak, but he wanted a challenge. He could see the red Ares flag with the ugly boar on its banner. He scanned the area, to find the defenders.

Two Apollo cabin members in the trees, bows trained at the flag.

Beckendorf patrolling around the flag.

Silena towards the flag's two o'clock, the soft wind flowing through her beautiful and silky tresses... he should focus more on the objective. But she was about five meters away. There were two campers behind her, but he could not make who they were.

Channeling some magic into his eyes, he saw four trip wires around the flag, two connected to, and if he knew Beckendorf, fire charges. The guy was a big pyromaniac. Because killing/crippling/maiming was prohibited, the charges only produced a lot of light, but almost no heat. All you got were a few burns that were cured by just one glass of nectar, but at the same time, they were powerful enough to knock you out of the game.

So they weren't a problem.

' _Distance to flag is about two meters. The archers first, then Beckendorf. Simple stunners would be fine. This gives me a forty second window to grab the flag and get out – Silena and her cohorts would stop the campers' fall before going after the flag. ETA for Luke is about a minute, but I can't wait any longer or I risk detection. Have to act... Now.'_

Then he got a better idea. This was one of the very, very few reasons he hated his intellect, his attack plans changed within seconds sometimes, with the next one more logical and effective than its predecessor. Sometimes a better idea would come to him after the battle, which he hated. This was fine if he was alone, but in a group, it was down right difficult or even impossible to change things on the go.

With the final plan of attack in place, Harry drew his wand from its holster on his wrist. Instead of shooting out stunners, a fine mist came out of it, and many things happened at once.

Beckendorf immediately fell asleep. And so did the archers, causing them to drop from their perches.

At the same time, the rest of the flag's protectors saw the flag disappear, and another Harry appeared a few ways away from the actual site of flag, the flag in his hands. The mistform Harry broke into a run, and the two campers behind Silena followed him.

"He used his cloak again!" One of them yelled.

The only one not affected was Silena, but she was too busy stopping the Apollo campers from falling.

The real Harry immediately acted, easily jumping over the tripwires and taking the actual flag. He grabbed it, and ran back, this time activating the trap.

They had made an elemental mistake: assumed that the trap would only be tripped from outside. Hence, the fire never even reached Harry – who had long gone – but Silena had to stop the fire from reaching her and her downed teammates.

She cursed under her breath, quickly dousing out the fire and gently lowering the Apollo campers. While she knew that Harry would be far off by the time she was done, she still ran after him.

She maybe not be as fast as him, she was still quite quick.

Only if Clarisse had not guilt-tripped her into joining her side... Not that she regretted it. Ok, maybe a little bit, but that was because she was on the losing side. And definitely not because of she might get a hug from him like last time.

* * *

Luke was running towards the enemy flag when he saw Harry with the flag, two campers behind him.

' _That bastard! He purposely sent me the long way just to continue his win-streak! But not on my watch!'_

Luke easily caught up to the two campers, knocking them out before even they had the chance to react. Then he tried to swipe the flag from the son of Athena.

The flag and Harry promptly dissolved into fine mist.

"Seriously?!" Luke heard Harry's voice from his left. " _You_ fell for that?"

The raven haired boy was standing a meter away from Luke, a look of amusement on his face, the real flag held in his hands.

Luke was about to retort, but then Harry suddenly dived, rolling to a stop and breaking into a run. As he did so, a spell caught Luke squarely in the chest, and the boy crumpled.

"Get back here, you lazy-assed idiot!" said Silena, running after Harry.

Luke tried to move, but could not move a muscle. ' _A body bind! Dammit Silena!'_

* * *

As Harry neared the creek, he was glad Malcolm's plan had worked well so far. They followed a sequence to the person doing the planning according to their age. Harry was not allowed, so it started from Annabeth, who was the one who made the strategy last week.

He wondered if Percy had managed to beat the Ares kids or they had beaten him. Either way, there were Annie and Lyra along with the Stolls stationed behind him, ready to take them out if necessary.

The rest on their side had already done their job: kept the path Harry and Luke (though Silena's body bind had caught him) would be taking clear of enemy campers and archers.

Sure, Silena was following him and he was slowed down by both of Dionysus's kids and Lee, he had knocked them out easily. Castor and Pollux weren't warriors, and had very little combat experience despite the fact they had been here for two years. Lee was a long range fighter, and hence was not very strong once you got close enough.

After all, no strategy – even if his mother was the one to create it – was perfect. There was _always_ a flaw.

Harry noticed that Clarisse was running towards him, yelling something about a trick. Harry grimaced; she was smarter and stronger than her siblings. If he was to fight her, then Silena would catch up to him – he was already dodging the occasional spell, and wondering where she learnt that language she was using. Her siblings were on the ground behind her, with Percy and Annabeth having what looked to be a heated argument.

Harry prayed that it was just that. If Percy even touched her, he was dead.

Ok, that word Silena used was definitely not learnt from Edward; that man never even uttered 'suck' in front of her, even now.

But he had to the flag across. Not himself. So when he got close enough, he dived, arms outstretched as they held the flag. He hoped to get the flag across the creek even if he landed in the creek.

While he was in midair, a body-bind hit him, interrupting his dive. Harry went stiff as a board, falling into the creek with a thud. Luckily, he had managed to twist he body around, so as to avoid falling on his face. Silena, who could not stop her momentum, tripped over him, somehow falling on top of him.

"Got you," she said, not realizing their position.

Harry blushed at their position and at the words, and the double meaning they had.

"Yes you did," The words slipped out of his mouth even before he realized what he said. But in his defense, fact that her breasts were practically pressing into his chest was very hard to ignore.

The realization made him blush even more.

Did she even know what position they were in or did she choose to ignore it?

A powerful enough body bind should not even allow him to speak, but Silena's core was nearly drained from the earlier spells she used. So, it was not as effective as it should have been. "But I, er, we still won."

Silena looked up, to see the flag had left Harry's hands as he fell, and had landed on the Blue team's side of the creek. The banner changed to a silvery owl on one side and an olive tree on the other from the ugly boar. Both the new symbols were on a blue background.

She cursed.

"Would you mind getting off?" Harry asked, trying his best not to look down, where her beautifully shaped – _STOP THINKING ABOUT THAT!_ He mentally yelled.

Luckily, his lower body was still paralyzed, or the awkwardness would be on a whole new level.

Silena then finally realized that she was pressed up against Harry's hard, muscular chest. While she would love to stay there for longer, she did not want to be noticed by anyone.

But that still did not mean that she didn't react much to it. An atomic blush spread across her face, and she got up, looking quite flustered.

"You will not mention this to anyone. Am. I. _Clear?"_

"Anyone but me you mean?" Clarisse answered for Harry, having caught up. She had a teasing grin on her face, which lasted until she noticed the flag. Then she kicked Harry in the side.

Luckily, it did not even register due to the spell Silena used on him. He still faked a painful moan, mostly because he did not want to get kicked after the spell had worn off, or when Silena would remove it.

"So, Silena," Harry stated, "you do realize you would have won if you would have used, umm, lets say _Aresto momentum?"_

Silena glared at him, and she also kicked him. This time Harry groaned in actual pain, as Silena had dispelled the body-bind before hitting him.

"You can never stop hitting on him, can you," Clarisse stated, causing both of them to blush.

Finally, the conch horn blew again as Chiron came upto them.

He sighed. "The Capture the Flag ends... in Athena's victory for the twenty-first time."

A part of him was wishing that the hunters would visit again, just so that Harry's strategy might result in the Camp's victory. Sure, there were two daughters of Athena in the Hunt, but Harry was, so far, the smartest child of Athena to grace the Camp, except for possibly Rowena, Leonardo da Vinci, and Isaac Newton.

* * *

"How do you do it?"

Harry was trying his best to ignore the annoying voice from beside him, belonging to Lee. His 'incident' with Silena had spread across Camp like wildfire, and luckily his sisters weren't teasing him just yet.

"I mean some of us try for ages to get a girl's attention! But you and that asshole Luke! You two just walk down the street and get smiles and blushes!"

The entire Camp was at the edge of the forest, and were around the part of the creek Percy was in – they had just witnessed his wounds being healed by water. Harry sighed. He couldn't figure it out as to why the Camp had not realized it yet. The spectacle in front of them was the biggest clue for Athena's sake!

Actually, given who Percy's father was, that was a grave insult to his mother. He should send her something as an apology note. Maybe his thesis on how chemistry and potions mixed together. Yeah, he'll do that once he gets back to his cabin.

"You are the worst of them all! You got the hottest girl in camp to fall on you!"

 _Oh gods when will he shut up?!_

The entire Camp froze when they heard a growl. It had come from a hellhound that had somehow entered the Camp. A practical joke by the Hermes cabin members, no doubt.

"Someone fetch me my bow!" Chiron shouted as they realized the hellhound was targeting Percy.

"Hey Lee?"

"Yeah, Harry?"

"You have three arrows in your quiver and a fully functional bow. Should I give you a formal invitation to shoot?"

Lee chuckled sheepishly, notching an arrow and letting it loose. The arrow hit its mark, and the hellhound promptly dissolved into dust.

"Excellent shooting, Lee," Chiron complemented.

Harry sighed exasperatedly as Clarisse accused Percy of summoning the hellhound. The kid didn't even know where Olympus was until just a few days ago, and she expects him to know how to summon hellhounds? Lower intelligent life-forms... Harry would never understand them.

As Chiron dismissed Clarisse's claim, the incident with the hellhound was forgotten as Percy was claimed.

On a brighter note, the Stolls now owed Harry thirty drachma.

* * *

When Percy and Grover came to the Big House the next day, they found Mr. D, Chiron, and Harry sitting at the circular table usually used for Pinochle.

After Mr. D threatened to vaporize Percy, and then to change him into a bottlenose dolphin, he was filled in on the details about why the weather was so erratic so lately. He found it hard to believe that the Master Bolt was stolen – he knew what it was from Harry's lessons. He was even shocked, and extremely angry as Zeus had accused him of stealing it.

Of course, Mr. D had flashed to Olympus as soon as he realized he could not turn Percy into a bottlenose.

Though that did not stop Harry from saying that the Master Bolt had nothing on a _Kamehameha_ wave. Percy silently agreed with that.

Then he was sent to receive a vague, and extremely depressing prophecy after it was decided that he would go on a quest.

When he came back, Annabeth was pouting at her big brother (Percy did not know she was capable of pouting), who had a Yankees cap in his hands.

Apparently he had confiscated it because he caught her eavesdropping.

After Percy informed them of the prophecy, Harry sighed, and Chiron told him not to dwell on it much.

Percy found it hard not to dwell on it much.

"Apart from myself and Percy," Harry stated after Chiron told Percy that Hades was the primary suspect – which Harry did not believe but did not voice out his opinion. He was not naive to think that Chiron hid nothing from them. Maybe the wizened centaur knew something he did not. "The others to join us will be Annie and Grover."

Annabeth looked elated at that, and Grover was surprised.

Chiron raised a brow at Harry. "Harry, only two campers are allowed as companions."

"It is obvious why Percy is needed. You said it yourself. I am needed because I am very perceptive and smart," Harry said as the others deadpanned at him. "As for Annie and Grover, you are not so heartless that you would destroy their dreams now, are you?"

Chiron cursed under his breath, making sure that his students did not hear it. Now if he said no, then it would make him the villain. He should tell Rowena to remove Salazar's portrait from her house. That man was giving him headaches even though he was dead for about a thousand years.

At least he was not alive. Chiron paled just from the thought of Salazar and the Stolls meeting.

"And now, to recap," Harry said. "The four of us shall be taking the highway to hell to find the One Bolt that rules them all, and return it Zeus before he starts turning into Gollum. Any questions?"

"Yeah, what are–" Percy began before Harry interrupted him.

"Excellent. Pack your bags with enough clothes for a week and we'll meet at the main gate in an hour. Don't be late."

Chiron sighed, a bit confused as to why the sky did not rumble like it usually does when Zeus is mentioned, complimented or insulted.

Then he shrugged; maybe the King had better things to do.

Harry on the other hand smirked as realized the sky did not rumble.

The Big Guy did not have gas like Harry thought he had.

* * *

 **A/N: The very first scene in this chapter may seem as if it was filler, but it holds a rather personal meaning: I wanted to see if I could type in an action scene. If it needs work, or it was good enough, please let me know. That is also the entire reason the quest did not begin this chapter. I want the more important fight scenes that occur in the quest to be as good as possible, hence I** **did like a trial run with an action scene. There were very little to no action scene in the CTF as I had already planned it to be based on trickery rather than an actual fight.**

 **All demigods possessing magic seems legit in my opinion. The demigods' energy that allows them to perform feats like summon lightning, or a hurricane in the middle of New York can be called as a form of magic. Hedwig's dislike of satyrs was done entirely on a whim, and I thought it would provide some excellent comic relief.**

 **And yes, Silena falling on Harry was a cheap way of getting a Harry/Silena moment in the chapter.**

 **Just one last thing. My college begins Monday, so updates will slow down considerably. In any event that I find myself having too much work, I may have to put this fic on hold. And no, it is NOT on hold right now. Most importantly I have NO plans of abandoning it.**

 **All I am saying is the most that may happen to this fic is that it may get put on hold, depending on exams, my own work, and other unseen factors that may come into play.**

 **As always, hope you enjoyed!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer and warnings: refer Chapter One.**

* * *

 **A/N: Review Time!**

 **ShadowTomes: You wanted the ages:**

 **Harry and Silena: 15 (both born in 1990; wiki does not say a thing on Silena's age, so I don't know whether I have aged her or de-aged her.)  
** **Percy and Annabeth: 12 (both born in 1993 according to the wiki)  
** **Grover: 28  
** **Luke: 19  
** **Thalia: [DATA NOT FOUND]**

 **Andi707: You raise an excellent point. And, after re-reading what I posted like three times, I now feel compelled to say that nowhere in the previous chapter did I say that Harry or Silena were wearing armor. Common sense dictates that they _should_ have been wearing it, but then again, that was a seemingly non-important Harry/Silena moment that was put in just because I felt like putting it. **

**Kenka: Quite sure that ability would come in handy later for some other character. Thanks for the idea by the way, if you don't mind me using it. I make no promises that I will, though.**

* * *

Chapter Six

* * *

"Have you taken your wand?"

"Uh-huh."

"Your sword? What about your books if you get bored? And your Cloak? Or... or..."

"Silena! I'll be fine! Don't act like sis!"

"But I'm worried..."

"If it gives you any bit of relief, I have a set of bezoars, forty pounds of ambrosia, three bottles of nectar, and all-heal salves that were supercharged under seven lunar cycles. So when I say I will be fine, you know I mean it."

"That does not take away much of the worry, though..."

Annabeth, Grover, Percy, and Chiron watched in amusement as the interaction took place. They were all standing near Thalia's tree (Harry had christened it _Fulgopinus_ )Silena was fretting over Harry like a mother hen, and Harry was finding it hard to tell her to back off. Quite literally, as she held him in the tightest embrace possible.

Hedwig was perched on a branch of the pine tree, glaring at Silena. Harry was _her_ master. The harlot daughter of the love goddess did not deserve to be in his arms. Mostly because doves were the third most irritating beings around, right after humans (that weren't the children of The Supreme Ruler of the World Athena) and satyrs. The only reason she never did anything to the dove-loving human female who thought she had a chance with _her_ Harry was because Harry would be very mad at Hedwig.

As to why Hedwig was awake even though it was nine in the morning was anyone's guess.

Finally, Harry pushed her off gently, and it took some time to quell her worries. Though he had no idea why she was uttered 'at least the only other girl is your sister.' Ok, he did have some idea, but surely it was not what he thought, right? Well, either that or she had not been forward with her feelings.

He would have to clear it up after they got back. It could be something else entirely as well. Girls were really confusing.

Just as they were about to leave in the Camp van, with Argus driving it, Luke ran up to them. He then handed Percy a pair of flying shoes, but Percy gave them to Grover instead, after Annabeth pointed out it was safer for Percy to stay on the ground.

Luke was a bit put out at that, but glared at Harry quite heatedly when the younger boy said "Don't worry. You'll get plenty of time to get Percy to fall in love with you."

Percy looked sick while Annabeth was trying to glare at her brother and laugh. Grover was laughing his goat laugh, while Silena was giggling.

Chiron turned towards Luke. "Luke, if you're... well, you know... I just want to let you know that it is perfectly normal, and it is not at all discouraged in Camp. In fact, Lord Apollo –"

"Chiron. I. Am. Not. Gay."

The rest of the campers present were on the verge of falling over with the intensity of their laughing. They were not sure if Chiron was joking or if he was serious. Even Hedwig looked amused for a second, before her eyes returned to the signature glare. It was beneath her to show emotions other than her love for her Harry.

Chiron held up his hands in a 'I surrender' sort of a fashion, "Well, if you're sure..."

"Yes! I am quite sure!"

"Denial is the first stage, Luke," Harry said after regaining his bearings.

Luke looked ready to kill Harry.

"Now, now," Chiron said. "Enough joking around. Percy, you and your companions need to go on your quest. Luke, return to your cabin. Silena, you as well."

Luke sighed, nodding as he left.

Silena gave Harry one last hug as she left, whispering a good bye into his ear.

Once the blush on his face was gone, Harry turned towards Hedwig, who hooted at him. "No, I am not taking you."

A sad hoot.

"I know, but you are a nocturnal bird. We will be traveling during day. Besides, I need you here to take care of my siblings!"

Two more hoots.

"Yes, I would give you a lot of bacon. And remember not to harass the satyrs."

An angry hoot.

Grover looked offended, "Hey! That is very racist!"

Hedwig turned to Grover, glaring as she hooted angrily again.

Even Annabeth gasped lightly at that. Percy was confused. "What did she say?"

"Something about there won't be a race to be racist against when she was done with them," Annabeth replied. Percy was appalled at that, before he realized something.

"You speak owl?"

"You really are a seaweed brain," Annabeth said as Harry told Hedwig to go to sleep on her perch in the cabin. "All children of Athena's can communicate with owls."

Then they watched as Harry and Hedwig argue over her comment (it was weird for Percy as one side was only speaking in hoots), while Percy was pulled aside by Chiron for a quick conversation.

* * *

Percy sighed as they got off at a bus stop. He immediately had to pull off a wanted poster of himself, and hoped that neither of them noticed. Harry had, but chose not to comment on it. Instead, he was more interested in Percy's ballpoint pen/sword. It gave off an aura that was old and powerful, was possibly a blade from Ancient Greek times.

He _did_ recall the name 'Anaklusmos' from a Herculean legend, but chose to work on more important things. Like the quest. Or the reason why he could not defeat Pokemon Champion Lance even though he had a level 100 magikarp. What? He enjoyed a good challenge.

Though the argument Percy and Annabeth had on the way here was very amusing, Harry was sure Percy was going to corrupt his sister. Then Poseidon would have no grandchildren from Percy. This was mostly brought on by how he seemed to think that the olive tree was not the best gift for Athens.

Harry had calmly pointed out that since reverse osmosis did not exist back at that time, the people of Attica chose their mother as their patron goddess. Something he regretted, as then he had to spend the remaining time explaining reverse osmosis and Attica.

Besides, olives were awesome. His wand was made from an olive tree, and they made everything taste better. If it didn't work, you were not adding enough olives. It was beyond both the children of Athena that someone would dislike olives.

Not only that, but he did have to teach Annabeth not to judge someone based on their parent. Just because Poseidon acted like an idiot, that did not mean Percy was one.

Percy then disproved Harry with his comment about how he would understand the decision of Atticans if Athena had invented olive pizza. Harry then truly understood that no matter where the apple seed lands, it still won't give rise to an orange tree. So Annabeth was right in assuming Percy to be like Poseidon.

But then there was the fact that Percy was not a womanizer... Harry would withhold his opinion until Percy reaches puberty – there was no way in hell a guy (who has crossed the age of puberty) can scream that high pitched when falling from the rock-climbing wall.

As he was contemplating on how close was Percy to his father in terms of behaviour, Harry simply sat as the three younger (he considered Grover to be mentally younger) kids played hackey sack until Grover ate the apple accidentally. But his information on the sea god came from a book written by his own mother, which contained more than fifty imaginative names that could be considered insulting when pertaining to Poseidon. As to why he was not feeling jittery, Harry was patient than most demigods, mostly because of meditation. It was a must if one wanted to learn the finer arts of magic.

Finally, the bus came. Grover began to sniff the air as they waited in line.

"Smell anything, then tell us. The Mist cover here is not thick, so I can see any one, or rather any _thing_ approach, but that does not mean you can slack off."

Grover nodded at Harry's words, "I smell something, but not sure what."

Harry looked around as they got in, magic in his eyes. People sitting, cars going by on the road, three furies, and a few dryads in the trees that were growing on the roadside. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Wait.

Three furies?

Harry looked again subtly, but they were not there anymore. He sighed. If they were going to observe only, then he should not bother them. Only if they engage, then he was going to take action.

He did inform his companions, though. "Try not to be afraid, and act calm, but we have three of Underworld's most creatively evil torturers, the Furries, observing."

The three freaked out, and began looking around frantically.

"Mrs. Dodds, here?"

"A-All three of them?"

"We can take them, right brother?"

Harry shook his head. "We won't engage if they don't."

Annabeth and Grover nodded, but Percy was about to protest but Harry pushed him into a seat, and made Grover sit beside him. He let Annabeth take the window seat right behind the two guys, while he sat beside her.

He spotted the three furies again in the front, but they weren't paying any attention to him. They had fixated their glares on Percy, who was ignorant about it.

Harry planned ahead. If they get up and come here, then getting Percy away was priority. Annie's cap was best bet. He gets by them, goes straight to the driver and pulls on the emergency brakes. Meanwhile, Harry uses the Mist to make it look like the engine has been overheated, and hence every passenger must get out. In this confusion, the four of them should easily escape without the three realizing.

The only problem was that he was not sure whether Annie's cap would work against them. His Cloak would, but it was not easy to give to Percy as he was already wearing it under his clothes. He was still visible, having learned how to switch its visibility on and off.

According to Rowena, if Thanatos could do so, then the Cloak of Invisibility should have the same feature – and she was indeed right.

If they noticed him, then he would have to use his own Cloak and fight them. He could take two out, and Percy or Annie takes the last one out.

As the bus entered the Lincoln Tunnel, one by one, the three furies got up, and began to make their way towards them. Quickly, he told Percy, Grover and Annabeth his plan, and sent an invisible Percy ahead. Harry then told Grover and Annabeth to wait for his signal before they would move.

The Furies got to where the three were sitting, and hissed, "Where is it? Where?"

Just as Harry was about to answer, he had forgotten about one thing.

Harry had not accounted for one thing into his plan. Percy's impulsiveness.

Just as he had gotten his wand out, and was about to manipulate the Mist, the bus lurched sideways, throwing the Furies into the walls of the bus.

As the bus barreled forwards on the freeway, Harry began to shoot spells around to keep the passengers safe. He had firmly implanted himself, a terrified Annabeth and a screaming Grover to the floor of the bus using magic. The walls, floor and the roof of the bus were hit by cushioning charms before anyone would be injured. The one five year old who was previously playing around on the aisle was hit with a _Arresto Momentum_ , thereby stopping him from moving altogether before Harry banished the still, but unhurt, boy into his mother's arms.

Similarly, the windows had antibreaking charms placed on them, so that no glass shard would hurt anyone when (not if, as the front window was already broken) they broke.

As the bus rolled to a stop near a forest, Harry blasted a hole into the side of the bus, allowing the people to escape quicker. The Furies got trampled under the terrified people, but did not dispel. Harry then made his way towards Percy, grabbed him, and he too got out.

Annabeth realized what Harry was up to. She grabbed Grover, Harry's backpack (it had all the medicines) and leapt out of the hole. She found Harry and Percy, and the two of them made their way towards Grover and her.

Harry was concentrating on getting all four out of there alive. The Furies were not his priority. They followed, then he would decide whether to kill them or let them be, again, depending on their actions. Fighting them would prove to be detrimental; Percy had killed one accidentally last time. True, he had trained for a week or two, but that was not enough to fight them. They were Hades's lieutenants for a reason.

As the four escaped deep within the forest, the Furies got up, and flew away once they realized that their target was missing.

* * *

The four quest takers ventured deep into the forest as a thunderstorm brewed. Harry had stored his backpack into his locker within the Du'at. His sword stored there was strapped to his back, the Mist hiding it.

Percy was scowling a bit, rubbing the part of his face that was introduced to Harry's fist. He was beyond angry that Percy had pulled off something like that. Percy himself was ashamed; he had not thought of any of the other passengers, and Harry was right when he said that if any innocent deaths had happened, then it was entirely Percy's fault.

While Percy wanted to fight the Furies, Harry had said otherwise. The son of Athena had pointed in less than kind words that if he or anyone were to die, then the quest was over. Harry was lying, of course. Even if Percy were to die, then the quest would still continue. They could not return empty handed to Camp or Olympus. If that happened, then it was well within Zeus's right to label them as traitors.

And now they were all hungry, and without money.

"Don't worry about the money," Harry said. "Once we get to a major city, I will withdraw some."

Percy looked at him confusedly, while Annabeth said, "Oh right, I forgot you were rich."

Harry smiled. "I'm not all that rich as of now. My older sister is. I can only access a ten-thousandth of my family account."

He did not feel the need to say that a ten-thousandth of his family account was a six figure digit.

"But, enough on my financial state. This quest is annoying me already."

Harry received confused stares. "First, we are sent to retrieve the Bolt. Then, Hades sends his torturers, and finally, a thunder storm. But the Furries were asking about an 'it'... That means Hades does not have the Bolt. Unless they consider Percy an it. But that is not the most annoying part."

Harry got an angry look in his eyes as he turned towards Grover. "You ate my Gameboy, you stupid goat!"

"Hey, now I was really scared and that was the first thing that came in my hands!" Grover said quickly, mostly scared and partly surprised. Even Percy was surprised at that. He cared about his Gameboy more than the quest? Annabeth sighed, "Of course..."

"How are you still alive even after eating the Lithium ion battery is beyond me!"

"That's because," Grover fumbled for an excuse, but Harry cut him off.

"Whatever. Let's just continue." Harry said as they found a road.

After a short trek along the road, they came by a closed down gas station. Besides which was a shop that sold stone statues. Harry was immediately alarmed by... something. The three others did not feel anything wrong, though Grover did say something was off. For a closed down place, Harry noted, it looked like it was thriving. There was smell of cheeseburgers coming from the inside the shop. That was also suspicious. All of them smelling food just as they were hungry? Then the statues themselves. They were made of stone, and _very_ well made. As if they were... petrified.

Not only that, but the Mist was quite thick here.

Harry then noticed the red neon sign, written in cursive English. Percy tried to read it, but was read by Grover, "Auntie Em's Garden Emporium."

Percy and Annabeth went inside despite Harry's and Grover's protests. Harry frowned. Annabeth never outright ignored him like that. The monster here was quite powerful if it could manipulate the Mist enough to fool Annabeth's mind.

Harry sighed as Grover noted that a statue of a satyr looked like his Uncle Ferdinand. He had figured out who it was. Why did it have to be gods-damned Medusa?

* * *

Percy and Annabeth had their cheeseburgers while Harry simply sat, with Grover chewing on a aluminium can. In front of them was a disguised Medusa. She was wearing long, black robes that covered every inch of her body, with a veil covering her head, and sunglasses covering her eyes.

Harry had not given it away that he knew who she was. But he hadwoken up Annabeth from the Mist induced hypnosis. Percy needed to be hit, as he was far too enthralled. It was rather tense, with the monster woman making small talk. It was rather weird. And it took all of his will power not to attack when she disrespected his mother.

When she asked for a photograph, Harry knew it was time to act. Formulating a quick plan, he leapt to his feet, firing a highly nerfed _bombarda_ spell along with rapid drying spell at Medusa's eyes. The _bombarda_ broke her sunglasses while the rapid drying spell dried up her eyes. She fell to her feet screaming, her snake hair lashing out through the veil around her, making it impossible to attack her while she was in this state.

Harry would have used his magic to sever her head, but he had a weak core right now. Most of his magic had been used up in the bus saving the people, and creating that hole in the side of the bus. Even the rapid drying spell needed to be extra powerful so that it would keep Medusa down for a long enough time for them to escape.

Grover, while terrified, flew off using Luke's shoes, while Annabeth went invisible. Harry grabbed Percy and ran off for a second time. This time there was no running away, as Harry realized as they came near the exit; Medusa had created a barrier around them.

"Spread out! Keep your eyes on her feet if you have to look! Percy, with me!" Harry barked out. The rest nodded, Grover and Annabeth going in different directions while he and Percy hid behind a statue.

Medusa had stopped screaming, indicating that her eyes had healed. Harry then heard her curse his mother's name. He begrudgingly agreed. Why did Athena give her petrification, rather than something far more safer? It was like she was punishing the general populace rather than Medusa.

"Now look here. She wants me dead more than anyone. My magic is almost dry, and that also means my stamina. So, it is up to you. Annie, being my sister, will also be killed if she gets too close," Harry explained as he transfigured a nearby stone into a mirror. He handed it to Percy. "I'll try to keep her–"

Harry heard the snakes as he was about to explain to Percy the finer details.

 _'Kill! Tear!'_

 _'I sssmell the ssson of Athena!'_

 _'_ _I wonder if ssshe isss ssstill as sssexy!'_

Harry sighed as he heard that one. It seems even if stuck to Medusa's head, snakes were still the weirdest creatures around. Or, it was _because_ this particular one was stuck to Medusa's head that the snake was weird...

Percy realized that Medusa was almost upon them by pure instinct as they both separated, going different ways.

Just as Medusa came near either of them, she was hit by a can, curtesy of the flying goat, Grover.

"That was for my Uncle Ferdinand!" He yelled as he flew back deeper into the statues.

"Just use the mirror!" Harry yelled as Medusa was hit by another can. Annabeth appeared beside Harry. "So, what's the plan?" she whispered.

"Back up Percy. We distract her. When you see a opening, cut off her head!"

It was a crude plan, but he had neither the time nor the patience to explain the finer details.

Annabeth and Percy nodded as both brother and sister went invisible.

Percy looked through the mirror as Medusa was pelted by cans before Grover lost control and crashed into a few statues. He slowly got up, tightening his grip on _Riptide,_ his sword. Medusa began to go towards Grover, to petrify him or worse. Percy moved, getting her attention.

A stone statue suddenly crashed on top her head, causing her to stumble. Percy acted quickly, slashing. Medusa jerked back, however, causing Percy to miss. But her head, Percy saw through the mirror, fell off, an invisible blade cutting it clean off. The head remained on the ground while the body dissolved into yellow dust.

The air shimmered a bit as Harry appeared, holding his silver blade. "Sorry to steal your kill. But that opening was a bit too big to pass up."

Percy grimaced. "I'm just glade she is dead," he said as Harry covered the head with her veil. Annabeth and Grover came up beside them, "Now what?"

Percy got an idea. "Wait here." the three of them looked at him in confusion as he ran inside the store. He came back out a few minutes later with an address to the Underworld, and a cardboard box.

"Good find with the address, but what are you doing with that box?" Harry questioned. He could see that Percy was quite angry at the Gods. He was as well; this never would have happened if Poseidon had not thought, _'It would be an excellent idea to sleep with my new girlfriend in Athena's temple! Like anything would_ ever _go wrong?'_

It was partially his mother's fault as well, cursing Medusa to be like that rather than smiting her. But it was mostly the sea-god's doing.

Harry then sighed as Percy mailed the head to Olympus, sparking off another argument between Percy and Annabeth.

* * *

By the time night had fallen, the four of them had set up camp in a marshy area a few hundred feet away from the main road. It was a popular place for rave parties, it seemed, as there was litter, empty cigarette packets and a lot of empty packets that once held a lot of 'nice' powder. Harry did not have enough energy left in him to take care of the trash, so he was forced to leave it.

He had used his remaining power to erect a barrier around them so that monsters won't find them in the night. Given it's strength, it would only work for lower monsters, but something was better than nothing.

Grover was less than pleased about the trash, and began to voice his worries about never finding Pan. Annabeth was fast asleep in her sleeping bag.

"Pam?" Percy asked. "As in–"

"The god of the wild," Harry answered for Grover before he could say anything or before Percy could unknowingly offend Grover. "Not what you think, Percy. Pan, as in P-A-N, is missing since early times. That is the reason why nature is declining – even it knows that something is wrong."

Grover nodded. "But enough of that. Let's sleep. Percy, keep watch for the first three hours, then wake me up."

Percy nodded, too tired to argue.

* * *

Harry stood in front of a giant pit. He looked around. There was darkness everywhere, but he somehow knew that there was a pit in front him. The air was quite cold, and Harry felt naked even though he was fully dressed.

Harry somehow knew where he was: edge of Tartarus.

" **Come closer, godling,** " A cold, ancient, metallic voice said. It was emanating from the pit.

"I'm fine here, thanks," Harry replied. "But this _is_ surprising. Who would have thought you were still around, Great Grandfather?"

" **Oh? It amuses me you know who I am... All the more easier. The gods see you as a mere pawn, young godling."**

"B-minus for the effort. You lack the subtlety, and I enjoy being a pawn." Harry said. He felt that the pawn was the second most important piece on the board next to the King. Get it deep within the enemy's base, and a pawn can do unimaginable destruction.

" **You dare mock my generous offer? Even after knowing who I am? Join me! And –** "

"And what? You'll bring back my parents from the dead? Give me land, money, women or any of the cliche deals you have? I bet my parents are happy where they belong, in Elysium."

Kronos growled, not believing that this demigod was rejecting his offer. " **You will regret your decision, godling! When I rise, I will personally rip apart the souls of your parents!** "

Harry's eyes went ice cold. "Why don't you do me a favor? Then I may think about your offer."

" **Speak, then. It amuses me that you have a request.** "

"Find the piece of yours that looks like your anus, and shove your offer up there. Or the piece I am talking to _is_ the anus? Because all that is coming out of it is pure _shit._ And the answer is still. _NO._ "

Before anything else could happen, he was woken up by Percy, and the son of the sea immediately fell asleep.

Harry sighed, that was a weird dream. Harry now knew who had actually influenced the theft. There was no doubt about it. He had ruled out Hades a long time ago. Hades was manipulative, yes, but he would not steal something.

He would done something far more subtle to dethrone Zeus.

Poseidon was also out. It was quite laughable in Harry's opinion that Zeus thought Poseidon was smart enough to pull off such a big heist. The Sea God lacked finesse and subtlety, if Percy was any indication.

But who would gain the most?

If Hermes would have stolen it, he would have returned it by now. So he was out.

The Olympian Twins, too, were ruled out. Apollo was the god of truth. No way in hell could he lie to anyone, much less Zeus. Artemis was too much of a Daddy's girl to do so, if her past actions were any indication.

His mother? Nope. She was like Artemis when it came to being Zeus's daughter, and besides, what could she possibly gain?

Demeter and Hera? Ruled out. That was just ridiculous.

Aphrodite? She would have... actually Harry had no idea what she would have done to dethrone Zeus. She was definitely not the thief, as she lacked the motive.

Hephaestus and Ares? Possible. The blacksmith could take the Bolt, and study it. But it would have been returned by now. Ares would love to have such a powerful weapon for himself. And no doubt, the war that would follow would strengthen him greatly.

Ares had the most to gain, hence he was the primary suspect in Harry's mind. He lacked the subtlety, yes, but with Kronos's influence, there was no doubt that he could pull it off.

Or at least, catch the actual thief and keep the Bolt for himself, and watch the battle unfold.

For all Harry knew, the actual theft might have been a prank, but Ares found the person that did it. Tempted by the idea of a war amongst the big three, he decided to hide it. The temptation was mostly Kronos's doing. Then, Percy comes to Camp, aggravating Zeus as he is claimed by Poseidon. Zeus now believes that Poseidon had the means by which his Bolt was stolen.

Classic war strategy.

Too bad it was working.

But that begged the question as to who stole the Bolt. It also was, partially, Zeus's fault for just leaving it there unattended. If he saw his mother's Aegis laying around, he would no doubt take it for... educational purposes. And nothing else, like melting it down to create a fully functional _Iron Man_ suit.

Harry sighed. The answer was no doubt, on the way to the Underworld.

The prophecy did tell them to go West, after all.

* * *

 **A/N: Luckily I had a lot of free time due to zero homework, and three half days, but in the upcoming week I would most likely be swamped. So I wanted to post this chapter as quickly as possible. Which is why it is only just shy of 5k words (not counting the A/N's) rather than the usual 6k.**

 **And yes, that is also why Medusa and the Furies are not, what I feel, written well. You may or may not agree, but meh. Those two scenes would have been well written, or at least more well written if you found no problems with them, if I had more time.**

 **I don't know when the next chapter will be out, but I will try my best to post at least one every two weeks. That is not a promise, though, as any other sane person would, I place my actual life above fanfiction.**

 **On a happier note, though, I finally crossed a 100 reviews! As of 4th October 2015 , 9:05 P.M. (in India, where I stay) this fic rests at 106 reviews.**

 **As always, hope you enjoyed!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer and warnings: refer Chapter One.**

* * *

 **A/N: Review Time!**

 **Ninazu: Thank you for the constructive criticism. While I agree with you on certain aspects, I'm just going to openly admit this: there will be certain parts to Harry's personality that will come off as cliche, and some parts that will (hopefully, if I do them right) leave you wondering whether his is a child of Athena. As for the progression with the pairing, I did not want to rush it. But I think I have hinted at the time they would most likely get together.**

 **mwinter1: The reason I'm not showing anything in England is twofold: one, I thought it would break the continuity of the quest. If many readers disagree, I will show something. But more importantly, the second reason is, at this point, I don't really know what I could show: Hogwarts is closed for summer, Quidditch World Cup takes place in August (we're still in June). So, there is not much, I suppose. But if many of you want, and feel that the quest's continuity would not be broken, then I can show something that I do have in mind.**

 **thedwo: I'm following Lightning Thief canon. It deviates in HP canon. How, you ask? I will simply ask you to wait and find out. But I will try to add original moments in future chapters.**

 **sultansmf: That was just a silly excuse I came up with so that Medusa won't be finished off when she was down. If Harry had not used a cutting curse then, you would have said why didn't he use a cutting curse? To avoid this, I came up with the exhaustion of core excuse, though I realized after three days of posting the previous chapter that I could have simply gone with 'conserving his magic to erect a barrier where they would sleep' or something along those lines. But, I think that someone would have found a fault with that as well, so nothing is perfect...**

* * *

Chapter Seven

* * *

Harry sighed as Apollo brought up the sun. He had been awake the entire night getting only bits and pieces of sleep, contemplating the quest. He had thought about who could have been the thief. He had listed the most likely suspects to be one of the twelve demigods who went to Olympus. Lee and Melanie were out; they were bad liars, and hence not the thieves. Annabeth, Malcolm, Silena and Clarisse were with him or within his field of vision the entire time, and hence not the thieves.

Katie had been keeping a close watch on the Stolls back then, so she or the Stolls weren't the thieves unless she was in the league with the Stolls, and the odds of Demeter giving up on cereal were more than that. Besides, if Stolls had stolen it, then they most probably would have given it back within the day. They may humiliate people, but it was never done with the intention of harming anyone. Permanently, that is.

Chris and Luke were next. Chris had joined in October of that year according to Chiron, so Harry did not know much about him. Luke, on the other hand, was Harry's rival of sorts. He knew quite a bit about Luke, but Harry had not ticked these two demigods off the list – Luke had gone for a restroom break for five full minutes. Thinking back on it, it was odd as they hadn't crossed a single restroom. Harry doubted the gods required one. Ambrosia and Nectar were absorbed by the body completely and left no waste products.

Chris was a quiet boy, despite being a son of Hermes. It was easy to forget that he was around, and he could easily blend in with any crowd. No one had been keeping any watch on him; he might have been a ghost the entire time.

So who was it? Luke or Chris? Or someone else entirely? Harry could not wait to find out. But that would have to wait; his brain was a tad bit tired. He could see a few faults with his own reasoning.

Through the trees, a bean of sunlight landed on Grover's face, and the satyr woke up. With an announcement that he needed to pee, he ran off into the woods.

 _'Nearly 93 million miles away, and yet, the light hits Grover in the face, bending only a small amount due to the atmosphere. That should end all of the Twins' arguments about who is the better shot,'_ Harry thought as Annabeth sat up groggily. He was ignoring that the sun was not that far off, mostly because he chose to believe in mortal science rather than actual truth. No way in hell would he believe that Fusion reactions were occuring so close to the planet without any repercussions.

"It's morning already?" She yawned.

Percy was still asleep, a little bit of drool coming out of his mouth.

"Yes, and your breath stinks," Harry said, and brought out his backpack from the Du'at. Reaching inside, he pulled out a white box labelled 'Mouth Cleansing Swabs – No Magic Required For Use.' He expertly ignored Annabeth's glare, and the sarcastic "good morning to you too, brother."

He gave one of the many swabs to her, "Put this under your tongue. This is... actually, the name is quite self-explanatory. Cleans your mouth entirely. Keep it for two minutes, and don't speak until it has done its magic."

She nodded, doing as instructed. She wanted to ask why not use these instead of normal brush and toothpaste, but had to wait for two agonizing minutes. Not because the swab hurt her, in fact, her mouth felt like it was being massaged. It was agonizing because she would have to wait to ask such an important question.

Luckily, Harry had picked up on what she wanted to ask. "That is because prolong use tends to degrade the enamel of your teeth. So, it should only be used once per three weeks, just to be safe."

Annabeth nodded.

Percy was still drooling in his sleep.

Two minutes later, Harry asked her to spit it out. Annabeth did so after Harry told her that they were bio-degradable. Grover chose this moment to run out of the woods, a pink poodle behind him. Harry and Annabeth thought that Grover did something to piss off the dog, but on close inspection it looked like the dog was happy to be around Grover.

Grover stopped right in front of them, nearly crashing into Percy. The poodle, however, headbutted the sleeping demigod.

The impact was felt at the place where Apollo never shined his light.

Percy instantly woke up, curling into a ball as he screamed in agony. Harry and Grover winced, but the poodle was barking at Percy.

"No, Gladiola, you may not bite him," Grover said patiently. Harry and Annabeth were surprised; Grover never used that sort of a tone. "And while you may find that scream annoying, maybe you should not have ran into him."

Gladiola then promptly curled up in Harry's lap and whined, gesturing Harry to scratch his ears. Harry did so, and barked at Annabeth this time.

"He is asking you to say hello," Grover translated.

"Hi," Annabeth said.

Gladiola barked again. "He says hello as well," Grover translated.

Harry now felt obliged to ask why Gladiola was here.

Grover then explained how he had found the poodle and how this one had ran away, and there was a large cash prize on his retrieval; the dog having agreed to return if it meant doing a favor for Grover. Since Gladiola came from a town that did not have a branch of Gringotts, Harry went with the plan.

As to why Gladiola was being too friendly to Harry, his grandmother was Hecate, and she was the patron goddess of dogs. But while most dogs (he wasn't sure about hellhounds or Cerberus) were quite friendly with him straight off the bat, Harry could not understand what they spoke.

Percy finally got up, and after a small argument with Gladiola (Grover playing the translator) they returned Gladiola to his owner. The money they received was enough to get them to Denver.

* * *

 _Why did I let her talk me into this?_ Harry thought as the four of them stood in the line to go up to the top of the St. Louis Arch. He was originally against it, but Annabeth had him the Eyes. It was a secret weapon his younger sisters had over him. He had caved in after a full thirty seconds. That and Percy had to bring up her father. If he had said no, Harry was sure Annabeth would have cried.

And while he was on the topic of Percy, he was going to feed him seafood (dolphin meat was high up on the list) for dissing his little sister's dream. He was sure Percy would never have eaten seafood. He was the son of the sea, and hence would not eat his father's subjects. A fitting punishment in Harry's eyes.

Harry sighed as the younger campers argued over the possibility of Hades spying on them. He was quite sure that Hades better things to do than spying on two preteens, one teen and a goatman (which was also the name of possibly the worst superhero; no offense to any satyr).

Harry pretty much ended the argument by saying, "I saw Melinoe naked."

It was lie, of course, Harry had never even seen Melinoe with or without her clothes. The trio went silent, looking at Harry as if he had a death wish. "Given how I am not dead, or hearing things from the shadows, we can safely assume that your friend downstairs has better things to do," Harry said.

"Did you have to–"

"–Say that particular thing? Yes, little sister, as your faces were priceless!" Harry said with a chuckle.

He got glares in return. Harry shrugged; try living with an alive portrait of Salazar and _not_ attempt such a thing. "By the way, Grover, you said all rational creatures fear the dark. You do know that there are nocturnal animals, right?"

"Harry, I said all _rational_ creatures. Have you met a nocturnal animal? They are extremely stupid!" Grover replied, not realizing his mistake.

Harry and Annabeth glared at him. "Owls are nocturnal, idiot." They both said in perfect sync.

Grover yelped, and hid behind Percy, who was chuckling to himself. But stopped when the two siblings directed their glares at him.

"I said nocturnal _animals,_ and not nocturnal _birds,_ " Grover yelled from behind Percy. It was not so loud so as to attract any attention, but they still got a few stares. Harry and Annabeth wanted to point out that birds were classified under Kingdom Animalia, but decided to let it drop.

As the four of them finally made up to the top, Harry looked around with magic energy fuelling into his eyes. Grover had again smelt something, but had shrugged it off. Harry wanted to make sure. He had nothing better to do; he had tuned out Annabeth's rants on the architecture, and what she would have done and what not. If Annabeth had decided to drink coffee or any caffeinated drink at night, it was all she would talk about in the Cabin. Sometimes Harry had to use the sleeping spell on her to get her to stop. In other words, he already knew what she was going to say.

He cursed as his eyes fell upon a woman wearing denim clothing and had a small chihuahua. _Why? Why the absolute fuck would you do this to me, Fates?_ Harry screamed into his own mind, as the woman was Echidna and the dog was a Chimera.

Hopefully they won't notice them.

Oh, who was he kidding. One son of Poseidon, two children of Athena, and a satyr and not to mention the fact that one of them was the grandson of Hecate. That combined smell would attract them in no time. There wasn't any spell in existence (yet) that could completely mask a demigod's scent, and the one that partially masked it Harry did not know how to cast – it was extremely complex, requiring a PhD-level mastery of Charms.

Sure, his master over charms was nothing to scoff at – Rowena was able to teach him how to cast a corporeal Patronus within two hours – but that still was not enough.

There was no choice but to engage them. They were more than 600 feet in the air, in an enclosed area, and both mother and son were loitering around the elevators. The strategy was divide and conquer. Echidna and Chimera were powerful enough on their own, no doubt, but together they were more of a threat. So the logical choice was to separate them. He had to take on Echidna, while Percy and Annabeth took on the Chimera. Grover was not a combat oriented being, so he sat this one out.

Harry was sure Grover would love that.

He relayed this to his companions, and they reluctantly agreed. Grover was understandably afraid, and so were Annabeth and Percy to a lesser degree, but the demigods hid it better. They decided to wait until the crowd had been cleared out, which happened within minutes.

Odd, the observation deck was supposed to be open for a few more minutes at least. It was then Harry realized that the Mist was getting thicker and thicker. Echidna was making the mortals leave. Since Grover was supposed to sit this one out, Harry convinced the goat-man to leave along with them. Percy and Annabeth agreed with Harry, and after a little prodding, Grover agreed to leave. Echidna ignored him entirely as he went past her, sweating so much that he would have flooded the observation deck and the elevator.

It fit perfectly well into Harry's plan. As in the mortals leaving, and not Grover's sweaty hindside.

Just as the last person filed out of the deck, Echidna and the Chimera slowly made their way towards the demigods. " **Oh look what we have here, son,** " Echidna said tauntingly. " **Feel proud, for Lord Zeus has sent me, the mighty Echidna, to test your mettle!** "

Harry was about to reply in his own witty way, but Percy did that for him: "Echidna? Isn't that some anteater?"

Echidna snarled, her denim clothing dissolving into her skin as it became covered in dragonic scale-like skin. Her eyes became slitted, her forked tongue a lot more prominent. Her lower body became akin to a serpent, hands growing talons that seemed to be made of gold. " **I hate it when people say that! Comparing me, the mighty mother of all monsters, to that infernal, low life beast! Tear them down, son!"**

Harry smirked, unsheathing his sword and drawing his wand. A large fireball spewed forth from the wand, separating the mother and son. Harry leapt quickly, attacking Echidna with the _Stormbreaker._ She blocked the blade with the talons of her one hand, slashing with those of her other. Harry had by then moved sideways, in an effort to cut her across.

It didn't work, as Echidna had anticipated it, and grabbed him with her tail, throwing into a wall. Harry used his magic to slow down his momentum gently before he hit the wall, so as not to hurt himself. Even then, he was hit against a hard and a rigid wall, so it still stung a bit. Not as much as it should have, though.

He then had to dodge Echdina's punch, which he did by diving sideways. And when he saw the results, he was glad that he did, for there was a gaping hole in the wall of the Arch. Looks like that mother of all monsters title was not just for show.

Wait. A gaping hole in the wall of the Arch? Annabeth was going to murder him in his sleep.

Harry was pretty sure that all monuments were protected by runes and wards, but either Echidna was powerful enough to break them with ease, or they were being poorly maintained. Harry could find out, but that meant using his own magic to blast open another hole. And then Annabeth would torture him before killing him.

She may act all sweet and caring, but Harry knew the sort of a raging beast she tended to be. Why were all of his sisters so scary when angered?

Wait. He should be concentrating on Echidna right now. He did have a plan, but it was thrown together within a second. He planned to use a purely lightning-based spell. Lightning was quite difficult to control, more so than wind. So he would need to aim carefully. That is, if he was aiming.

Without warning, he threw his sword at Echidna, who caught it. " **Oh? You give up?"** She taunted, waving it around. The small shock the blade gave her was ignored by the monster. She then got hit by an _Augamenti._ " **You dare mock me?! You will die a horrible, painfully slow death!** "

Harry smirked, his lightning spell was ready. It was going to cost him nearly 50% of his core, but he was sure it would do the trick. "Ah, but you see, we children of Athena do not bite the dust before giving a physics lesson. And here is mine: lightning travels the path of least resistance! _Thundaga maxima!"_

A huge arc of blue lightning shot forth from Harry's wand, quickly making its way towards Echidna. Harry had not even aimed; the lightning was taking its natural path. The _Stormbreaker_ was made out of silver – one of the most electrically conductive metals. Add to the fact that Echidna was covered in water, so that made her an electrical conductor. So, the lightning had simply gone to Echidna without Harry needing to do anything. The Mother of all Monsters screamed in agony as her insides were burned to crisp, third and fourth degree burns forming on her scaly skin.

" **NO! I CAN'T BE DEFEATED! I AM ECHIDNA!"** She yelled as her body turned into dust, leaving behind a golden talon.

Harry sighed, and looked over to Annabeth and Percy. He was so caught up within his own battle that both had slipped from his mind. He grimaced; it was not going well. Annabeth was fighting against the front side where the lion was grafted on to the main body.

The Chimera had also created a hole in the Arch. Two holes in a monument. Annabeth was going to inconsolable, Harry just knew it. But that was not the problem.

The problem was with Percy; the poor boy had got himself bitten by the snake.

Harry doubted any of his bezoars would work against the poison of the Chimera, but the choice was taken away from him as the Chimera knocked Percy out of the Arch. Annabeth screamed a "NOOO!", but Harry acted quickly, shooting Percy with a spell that made him fall like a feather. He was going to use _Arresto Momentum_ on Percy before dragging him back in, but a voice in his head told him to allow Percy to fall in the water. Harry somehow knew instinctively that the voice belonged to Poseidon, as it sounded quite worried and said something about giving Percy a message.

But the Chimera was still at large.

Still acting as quick as possible, he summoned his sword to him, which still had a few arcs of residual lightning coursing through its blade, and threw it at the Chimera. Then he used another spell to push the blade (yes, like a Force Push) to make it go even faster.

He may not be a son of Apollo, but the sword still met its mark: Chimera's heart from the sides. Many heads it may have, but it had a single torso, and hence a single heart. The Chimera gave a defeaning roar as it too, began to turn to dust, leaving behind its blood-caked mane.

Harry sacrificed the spoils to his mother, and he and Annabeth left the Arch. She was quite sad, watching a comrade fall 630 feet. She knew Harry had hit him with a spell to slow down his fall, and even if she was told by her older brother that Percy was most likely alive, it did not take away her worry. She may act cold towards him sometimes, but that was her maintaining her image. Deep down, however, she cared for most campers (Mark and Andrew from Ares cabin were not included – they burned her favorite architecture book with Greek Fire once).

Percy may act like an idiot at times, but he was still a comrade, and a friend.

The fact that the Gateway Arch now sported two big holes made her even sadder.

* * *

Athena was enjoying her time of peace and quiet, sitting in the library of her Temple on Olympus. She was reading the thesis on how Potion-Brewing and Chemistry mixed that her son had sent her, and she was quite impressed. It had a few mistakes, but even then, this was well beyond Hadrian's age group. Athena was sure that the material would leave even experts wondering how the hell did a fifteen year old manage to come up with this.

Needless to say, she was quite proud.

As she was deciding on the grade she would give her son, a warm, comforting energy spread through her very being. It was quite relaxing, and she reclined back on her chair, closing her eyes and enjoying the wonderful sensation. She knew what it was – two spoils of war from two powerful monsters were just sacrificed to her.

Her children were so strong, she thought, not caring if her thoughts could be perceived as arrogance. But that was until she realized the identity of the monsters that were slain. She already knew who had sacrificed them, and it worried her greatly. Hadrian was a strong demigod and did possess a beautiful mind (though she thought he could do better than a daughter of Aphrodite), and Annabeth was not weak either, but they were too young to fit Echidna and the Chimera! Were they alright? They didn't get injured too badly, or worse were they – Athena had to stop herself from completing that thought.

And then she heard a prayer from Hadrian. ' _Mother, I know not if you are listening, but I just wanted to let you know, but we are fine except for a few cuts and bruises. But apparently Echidna and Chimera were sent by dear old Gramps. You would not know anything about it, now would you? Actually, don't tell me. It's more fun if I figure it out myself. Oh, and I hope you got the thesis I sent. That's all for now... Talk to you later. Love you! Oh, and Annabeth says hi._

Athena released a breath she did not know she was holding. Ok, she did know she was holding her breath. She was the Goddess of Knowledge. She knew everything (again, she did not care if she was bordering on, or crossed the line of arrogance). But, she was extremely relieved to find out her babies were okay.

Wait. Did he say his grandfather sent those two vile creatures?

Oh, she was going to teach her _dear_ father a lesson. One he will _never_ forget.

* * *

"You told mother through a prayer that Zeus sent them," Annabeth stated as both of them exited the Arch. Police, ambulances and fire trucks were every where, but both of them were hiding from the mortals under their respective invisibility items. They were holding hands so as to not get separated.

"That is what Echidna said, yes?" Harry replied.

"But you just said, before sending the prayer, that Echidna was not sent by Zeus, but she came by her own accord. Which makes sense, as Echidna would not follow his order, nor would he trust her with anything. After all, why kill the only people wanting to search his Bolt?"

"Ah, but my dear little sister, you forget one important fact."

"What's that?"

"I am merely taking out my frustrations about Zeus's lack of security through another medium."

Annabeth looked at her brother. Not that she could see him, but knew where his face was due to the fact they were still holding hands. "You mean to tell me, that you purposely worded the prayer so it would sound like it was The Big Guy's mistake, and hope that mom would listen, and then be angry at him for you?"

"Yes. That is precisely what I am saying."

Annabeth sighed; she should have expected something like this from him. She was sure that Athena would figure this out in no time, but he could still give it a shot, right? After all, its the thought that counts... maybe she should look into manipulating people. It sounded fun. Annabeth stopped herself. Her brother was rubbing off on her a bit too much for her liking.

"But how did you manage to kill Echidna so damned easily?" Annabeth questioned.

"Did you not see?" Harry asked, but didn't wait for a reply. "I shot a jet of water at her, gave her my _silver_ sword, and then used a lightning element spell on her. Her electrical resistance was practically zero if those claws were actual gold. Even if they were not, the electric current's strength was further increased by the silver and her wet skin."

"And the water was ionized at a rapid rate – thus burning her skin, and adding an additional current through her being, thus frying her insides, right?" Annabeth finished.

"Precisely, li'l sis."

She looked back at the Arch, and was quite happy to see that the Arch was restored as it was before the fight again. Looks like the Monument Restoration and Maintenance Wing of the Magical USA was doing its job right, even though there was a high probability that the protective enchantments and runes that were placed on the Arch were not being maintained.

Of course, the Mist had taken care of the mortal police men, firefighters and ambulances in the area, so no problems there.

Once the siblings had found Grover and Percy (who was completely fine), Harry knew it was the right decision that he made to let Percy fall rather than pull him back in. After all, if the bezoars did not save his life, then he doubted that they would have been able to get Percy in the Mississippi in time. Also, Poseidon had apparently summoned Percy in Santa Monica Bay.

And the fact that Zeus had not blown Percy out of the sky while he was slowly drifting into the river pretty much cemented his theory that Kronos had something to do with Echdina and the Chimera. Hopefully, his mother would be too emotionally distraught, and would teach Zeus a good lesson on security before she figured this out. The chances were quite high if Athena was anything like Rowena. Godric, Helga and Salazar always commented on how similar the two were; but they were demigods, and Harry doubted that they had been with any god for a good enough time to get a good feel of their personality.

The four of them then made their way back to the Amtrak station, where, quite luckily, the train for Denver was yet to leave. Making a mental pont to visit the Denver branch of Gringotts, Harry decided to catch up on some sleep while the train sped away to Denver.

* * *

The four quest takers walked into an abandoned car wash, as they wanted to contact Chiron to inform him of the quest's progress.

As Annabeth explained Percy how an Iris Message worked, Harry conjured up a rainbow. Fishing out a golden drachma, Annabeth threw it in the rainbow. "O Goddess, please accept our offering," Annabeth chanted, asking for Half Blood Hill. The Big House appeared in the rainbow, Luke's back coming up on the 'screen'.

"Hey, Luke!" Harry called out.

Luke turned, grinning as he noticed the quartet.

"Hey you guys! How's it going?"

Harry sighed, he did not want Luke to know anything about the quest. He still had not taken the son of Hermes off the list of suspects, but he did not want to reveal this to Annabeth. She had a cru... cru.. cruu... she found Luke to be attractive. He still did not know why. When he tried to consult the only person who knows more about this, Silena had giggled first, then told him that it was mostly just a 'puppy dog' sort of love, and she would likely grow out it.

Harry did not necessarily know what that meant, but he knew that girls loved puppies, and never grew out of them. So, it was quite dangerous to let it be. Silena had hexed him for saying that, and told in quite simple terms what would happen to his manhood if he tried to interfere with something so pure.

Why was she so damned hard to figure out? One second she is all happy and the other she is threatening to make his bits implode by induced frostbite. Girls were more difficult to figure out than the String Theory. Or maybe it was _that_ time of the month.

All of Harry's contemplation on whether he should tell Luke about what happened and whether Silena was bipolar was done so quickly that no one even realized that he had spaced out.

"So, kill any monsters lately?" Luke asked, bringing Harry back to the real world.

Harry had already made his decision; he did not trust Luke enough to tell him what all had transpired. "Oh, yes," Harry replied. "We fought monsters that would make you wet your bed!"

"Is that a challenge?" Luke asked with a smirk while Annabeth (who was trying to make herself look more presentable) sighed. _Here they go again,_ she thought.

"A challenge is made amongst equals. So, no, I would not challenge you; it would be one sided in my favor."

"Care to put that to the test, bird-brain?"

"I already have. Besides, given how you always stumble on simple things like calculus and trigonometry, who is the real bird brain here?" Harry was smirking now as well.

Percy looked at Harry as if he had grown two heads. The words 'simple', 'calculus', and 'trigonometry' did not belong on the same page, much less the same sentence.

"NO!" Luke yelled, surprising everyone. "No one, but you, thinks that those... infernal mathematics is simple! Hades gives that to souls in the deepest parts of the Pit!"

"Wow! Mathematics! You _do_ know the full form of math. What an achievement."

Annabeth, Grover and Percy watched in amusement as more and more insults were hurled over the IM till the time ran out. Then another call was made, this time with specific instructions to show them Chiron only.

The wizened centaur looked very tired as he came in view. He was in his wheelchair form, bags under his eyes. He seemed to be going away from the cabins, and towards the Big House.

"Chiron!" Annabeth called, getting his attention. "What happened to you?"

Chiron looked very pleased to see the four quest takers. "Annabeth! Grover! Harry! Percy! You all are still alive!"

"Oh, gee," Harry cut in. "Thank you so much for the vote of confidence."

"Sorry," Chiron said, looking a bit embarrassed. "I have not been getting much rest lately. You see, some one leaked out that Lord Zeus has lost the Bolt and Lord Poseidon is the most likely suspect. The Camp is getting divided between the two brothers, but luckily Luke, Silena and even your brother are trying to keep the peace."

Harry was quite proud of Malcolm (he was the designated commander if or when Harry or Annabeth were not around) for making the correct move. The others seemed to look a bit more tired than they were.

Harry then reported what had happened since they left Camp, and subtly suggested Kronos's involvement. Chiron seemed to catch on, as he told them just before the message ended that he needed to inform Olympus of the ancient beings that seemed to be stirring.

After sending the younger ones to find a place for them to eat, Harry decided to visit the Gringotts branch in Denver. He gave them locator runes through which he could find the place they were at.

* * *

Harry walked out of the Wizards' Bank of Gringotts with a heavier pocket, and located his fellow campers in a second. He could try and apparate, but while he understood the theory, he had yet to try it. And Rowena would skin him alive if he did, so he instead took a taxi.

The three were sitting in a fast food joint, with an unwanted guest: Ares.

Harry sighed in annoyance before walking up to them.

"Oh, lookie here," Ares said as he noticed Harry, who slid in the booth besides Percy. "Athena's golden boy," Ares sneered.

"Aw, you sound jealous," Harry replied. "Is it because you always felt inadequate when pertaining to your intelligence?" Annabeth looked worried, wondering of Ares would smite Harry. Percy smirked, however, he knew Ares would not figure it out that he had been insulted.

Ares looked at Harry for a second, before he realized that he had been insulted. "You should watch what you speak, boy. Not many gods are as forgiving as I am."

"Of course not. But I am sure that they do not buy demigods dinner because they, quite literally, have nothing better to do."

A waitress came by them with the food. Apparently, Annabeth had already ordered for Harry: two hamburgers and a coke.

Ares gave her a few golden drachma, to which she said they were unacceptable, but scampered off when Ares brought out a knife.

"You can't do that! Threatening people is wrong!" Percy yelled at the war god.

Ares looked at Percy as if the boy was an idiot. "You kiddin'? Best place since Sparta. Do you carry a weapon, punk? You should, dangerous world out there. Which brings me to my proposition. I need to do me a favor."

"Oh gee, how wonderful," Harry said sarcastically. "What shall we do for thee, O mighty one?"

"Oh, cut that out! You sound worse than Apollo singing!"

The sun's glare intensified outside, to the point that a heat wave was detected all over the country when the temperatures soared beyond 130°F (approx 50°C). This lasted for nearly fifteen minutes, immediately going back to normal as thunder rumbled in the distance.

"As I was saying, the four of you will get my shield that I left in an abandoned water park while I was on... a date with my girlfriend."

Harry hmm'd. Percy was about to speak, but was stopped by Harry. "And pray tell, why should we? We are already on a quest."

"Like any of you brats are skilled enough to find the Bolt. When he lost it, Daddy sent his best – Apollo, Hermes, Artemis, Athena, and naturally, me. If I could not sniff out such a powerful weapon, then you have no chance. But I have some information for you," Ares grinned sadistically, almost as if the Bolt aroused him.

Harry was pretty sure it did.

"And what information could you possibly have that would aid us? Besides, you couldn't sense our weapons as you had to ask if we carried one," Harry said.

Ares looked angry now. These brats were testing his patience. "Information about the sea-spawn's mother." Ares snarled.

"What about my mother?!" Percy yelled out.

"That she is alive?" Harry guessed. What else could it be? That Sally Jackson was doing the Hula dance in Hawaii while they went on the quest?

"That she is alive," Ares agreed. Then he realized that Harry had tricked him into revealing the information. Percy looked as if Poseidon had slapped him in the face with a shark. Grover and Annabeth were equally surprised. Harry was surpirised that it worked. "Why? How?" He asked, but Harry silenced him, telling him that he would explain later.

"Either way, we will get your stupid shield. But what traps did the blacksmith place?" Harry questioned. The only reason he was going to accept to Ares's request was he wanted to see how effective Hephaestus's traps are. Not to see whether Aphrodite had left behind something that would make a wonderful souvenir for Silena.

He was being 46% percent serious.

Percy and Annabeth looked at Harry. "We are?"

"Of course. It is quite unwise to ignore a god's request."

Ares smirked. "So you are as smart as your mother says. But return the shield, and I will provide you with transportation." With that, the god of war left on his bike.

Harry inwardly smirked. It seems Ares did not know about his money. But no matter. He could always save it for later. No telling if he would get to visit another branch anywhere.

"Now what?" Grover asked. "I mean, the two of you were this close against making him your enemy."

"Meh. Ares is all bark," Harry replied. "He bites ineffectively, and I am pretty sure that his brain is smaller than a sub-atomic particle. Which is why he needs us. The Blacksmith's trap would be beyond Ares's or Love Goddess's intelligence. Actually, everything is beyond Ares's intelligence."

"Besides," Harry said as they walked out of the diner. "We learnt an important thing, besides Percy's mother being alive."

"What is that?"

"Oh you know, Love is not only blind, but also deaf, and I'm pretty sure lacks all olfactory senses."

* * *

 **A/N: About Echidna dying with the lightning, I will admit, I am stretching the science behind the cause of her death _quite_ a bit. But, its just a story, no need to get your panties in a twist. And yes, Thundaga was taken from Final Fantasy/Kingdom Hearts franchises, which I do not own. Well, at least the name was. I can't remember how the animation actually was, and I am too lazy to find out. As for Chimera's death, I was never clear on how it fought, which was why I killed it off so easily. Sorry if it was not too great.**

 **And if the ending seems abrupt, that was because I did not know how to end this chapter. It was getting to long for my liking, which was why I did not include Waterland Park.**

 **That's all for now! Hope you enjoyed!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer and warnings: refer Chapter One.**

* * *

 **A/N: Review Time!**

 **mwinter1: The issues you brought up - like what happened to the diary and the stone - were dealt with in chapter three. But don't worry, with the quest coming to a point where I feel showing something from Wizarding England won't break the continuity, there would be something in the next chapter.**

 **No I'm Sirius: I thought I was clear about this...and you're the second person asking for clarification... So I'm saying this once and for all, NO CROSSOVER WITH MARVEL. I simply said that Athena did not give her children extra-human abilities. Well, apart for extraordinary intelligence, that is.**

 **doctor of supreme awesomeness: I have been getting similar concerns over PM. The only reason why Silena has taken the backseat as of now was because I found it hard to develop her character alongside Harry's. If I was that capable, she would have been on the quest due to whatever semi-plausible reason I would have thought of during the time she would join. But once the quest is over, she would be taking the role of main female lead.**

 **BankaiChaos LoD: While I really appreciate your review, I would have found it more helpful if you would have pointed out the spelling mistakes rather than telling me that I made a few. And yes, this does mean that I am too lazy to look for them.**

* * *

Chapter Eight

* * *

Percy had wished he never had asked about why his mother was kidnapped by Hades. Mostly because Harry had given him a huge lecture on hostages and their importance in warfare. But he still had not understood why Hades would need his mother. When he asked, Harry had asked him to figure it out himself.

They had almost reached the water park. It was as abandoned as Ares had said it would be — the rides were broken, the functional ones looked dried up, as if there was no water in them for months. Even the sign was missing a few letters, so it read WAT RAD PARK.

"Who do you think his girlfriend is? Ec–"

"Don't even go there, Percy. If his girlfriend, though I suspect it is more of a friends-with-benefits sort of a thing, were to hear this, well, let's just say that you would have a _very_ bad love-life," Harry said.

He knew something was wrong here. Why would Ares want his shield? He must be having thousands back in his temple, and then some. Unless of course, it was a Captain America shield signed by Jack Kirby, Joe Simon and/or Stan Lee. Then he could completely understand why Ares would want it back.

And Ares did not seem like the person to keep favorites.

"Why? Who in their right minds would date that freak?" Percy questioned.

"Well, like they say, love is made from smokes…" Harry replied, knowing that was not the entire Shakespearean quote. "This means you have to be stoned to be in love…" Again, Harry did not care that that was the incorrect meaning of that quote.

"No it does not! It is not even the full quote!" Annabeth said, and the two siblings began arguing behind the meaning behind it. Percy and Grover lost track of them when the two somehow reached the chemical imbalances that take place in the brain because of love.

"Hate to break up your argument," Grover said, but yelped when the two siblings glared at him. They were _NOT_ arguing! They were discussing! There was a difference!

"B-but we need to find that shield!"

Harry took a look around. "It's in there." He pointed to a ride that said 'Thrill Ride o' Love'. Despite what the name might suggest, he would never even suggest this place as a last date option, much less a first one.

"How can you know?" Percy asked.

"Because shut up." Harry replied. He was tired of explaining everything to him.

"It is the only place Lady Aphrodite would agree going in this dump," Annabeth answered.

"Either ways, Annie, go get us some clean clothes from the store. I don't want to spend any more money than I have to, just in case I don't get to visit another branch of Gringotts. Percy, come with me. We're going in that ride to find out if Annie is correct. Grover, stay in the control room just in case we need to turn it on." Harry gave the orders.

Percy wanted to protest against Annabeth stealing, and the fact that he was entering a love ride with another guy, but a glare from Harry shut him up. Grover and Annabeth left to do their own thing.

* * *

As Percy and Harry came across the shield in the tunnel, Harry asked Percy to stop, as he had seen a few trip wires around it. His gray eyes (that had a greenish tint) followed the wires to three cupid statues. Having Percy stay put, and threatening him with death by math puzzle marathon should he disobey, Harry went up to the nearest statue.

He was ignoring the shield for now, as well as the pink scarf that no doubt belonged to Aphrodite, and focusing instead on the statues. He knew that there was something off about them. He also knew that there was something odd about the shield as well.

It looked new, like it was bought yesterday. No polish marks, no battle scars, and no scratches. This was a recently bought shield. Ares was not a diva to go and get every damned shield — in fact, Harry was sure that Aphrodite would have sent someone to look for that scarf. Well, sorry Lady Aphrodite, but it was either going to Silena or going to be experimented upon. Harry was not sure which was a better option. On one hand, it looked like a very good way to finally confess, but it also had a good amount of love magic imbued in it. He could experiment on it, and hopefully, finally crack the code that was love.

Quite a hard decision.

But that would need to wait, as he was busy examining the cupid statues. They were celestial bronze, and the palms had holes in them – it looked as if there were lenses attached in them. So the cupids were the cameras, and the trip wire would activate them. But that was not it. How would the two be captured? And how did Hephaestus know where exactly to set the trap, and the fact that the shield and the scarf would be in the exact center of the trip wires?

That was some genius trap work.

Harry figured out how the two promiscuous gods would be captured – spider netting. Luckily they were automaton spiders, otherwise he would have flipped, and either ran away, or used a _Fiendfyre_ on them. That spell was solely reserved for killing those infernal beasts that were scarier than Hades's worst torture technique, or listening to Silena's angry rants. Wait, did he say listen? He meant tune out.

He was NOT afraid of automaton spiders, and he certainly did NOT jump about few feet in the air while calling for his older sister. Or cry like a little girl like Percy claimed. Wait. Did he call out his older sister's name? Ok, he was dead after the quest... he may have ignored the 'ask-for-permission-before-doing-something-life-changing' part of his sister's rules. Salazar would be so proud.

It took Harry a while to and dismantle the trap without setting it off. The spiders were now melted, and the statues had been freed of their cameras and motherboards. Whereas he immediately pocketed the scarf (folded very neatly and tidily before putting it in his bag), he took his time with the shield.

He had almost figured it out – what made the shield special.

Harry suspected that the Master Bolt was stored in this shield, somehow.

* * *

Harry and Percy returned with the shield, and regrouped with Annabeth and Grover outside. They then decided to head back, and on the way Harry shared his beliefs about the shield.

"Why would it have the Bolt?" All three questioned.

"Think about it. Ares would no doubt want a weapon this powerful. Secondly, the Bolt was not the only stolen item – the Helm of Darkness was stolen as well."

Harry received confused and incredulous looks. Why would he think that?

Harry continued, "Hades believes that Percy was the one steal both the items, which is why he kidnapped his mother. Zeus sent his Olympian children to locate his Bolt. I suspect that Ares caught the thief, but the thief convinced Ares to start a war. Ares's power would grow exponentially if the war would be as devastating as Chiron described it."

"But Hades gets to expand his kingdom!" Percy protested.

"The thing about the underworld is, Percy, that it is always expanding. About 100 people die every minute, and in 100 years, his kingdom is going to expand by 5.5 billion. By the century after that, it would have at least 4 times the amount. So, tell me, does your reasoning fit better, or does mine? Because all Hades needs to do is wait for it to expand, idiot."

Annabeth perked up, "And Ares hid it in this shield! But when he ran away from there, he left it behind. Not wanting to get caught by Hermes or Hephaestus or even Aphrodite, he sent us to do it, not thinking even for a second that we would figure it out. But what of the Helm?"

"It's on his bike – there was a helmet. I disregarded it at first, but now I suspect that was the Helm."

Annabeth nodded. Ares did not seem like the god who would follow traffic rules and regulations. "So what do we do?"

"Simple. We take them back, " Harry said. He knew that Ares would have to be tricked into giving those away.

What a pain. Tricking rocks was a humongous insult to his intelligence.

* * *

Ares growled angrily. He had been tailing the demigods since the very beginning. He had not counted on Athena's brat catching on so quickly. He knew he had to do something about them, or else his glorious war would be denied.

He would stop sleeping with Aphrodite before he let that happen.

He smirked when he saw the brat trying to fiddle with his shield. Ares had cleverly hidden it, and there was no way that he would find it.

* * *

 _This was easier than expected,_ Harry thought as the shield's belly opened and the cylindrical Master Bolt fell out. Ares had literally marked the spot as 'War bringer.' No doubt he thought he was being clever.

* * *

Ares growled again, carelessly exploding a nearby car. And a few buildings. He winced when he realized that Aphrodite's favorite clothes shop went in flames, but decided that it was not important. They were almost near his bike. Why did he leave it behind? Oh right, he thought they would die. At least the Helm was still with him.

* * *

Harry stored the Bolt back in the shield, and the four of them ran as they heard the explosions behind them. Either a terrorist attack, attack by monsters, or a god was enraged. Whatever it was, they did not want to find out.

Harry did have a clear idea of who it was: Ares. It made some sense that the god would follow them just to ensure that his secret remains a secret. Which was why they needed to get to his bike before he got to them. They were screwed if he used teleportation thing that the gods used.

Harry was not entirely sure as to why Ares had not used it yet, but he was not complaining about it.

Just as they came about the diner, Harry looked around. The bike was still there, along with what Harry believed to be the Helm of Darkness. Time to set up the trap. Harry still had the cupid cameras, and he was going to use them. Luckily, Harry to knew the frequency at which Hephaestus was going to broadcast his trap (it was written on the side of the camera), so no problems on getting the message to Zeus.

After setting up the cameras, he nodded to Percy, who went and pulled the helmet from off the bike. Surely enough, it morphed into a much more evil looking helm, with Hades's symbol etched into its front side. Harry was sure that Ares would show up. He needed for Ares to show up. The cameras were still running, meaning they were on air.

Nothing happened for a while. They gave the gods' prized possessions to Grover, having been told to go and hide. He had more than readily agreed to this plan, and ran inside the diner.

They waited for a few more moments.

Then a gunshot sounded, with a very pissed off Ares standing there with handgun, pointed at Percy. Percy looked shocked, standing there, frozen, not believing that he had been shot at.

...

"You graduated out of the Stormtrooper School of Shooting?" Harry asked as soon as it became clear that he had missed. _How the hell did Ares miss?_ Harry thought, but it soon became clear to him. The Bolt was no doubt producing a strong magnetic field that had disrupted the bullet. But none of them were affected by the Bolt... yet. His silver sword for one. Silver, as in normal silver, was diamagnetic. If the magnetic field produced by the high amount of electricity present in the Bolt was powerful enough to bend a bullet from that far off, then it was powerful enough to throw his sword away by itself by at least a foot. So, explanation discarded.

Ares growled, not saying a word as he shot at Harry this time.

Harry blinked as the bullet whizzed past his head, missing him by an inch. _Never mind..._ Harry thought, _his anger is making him miss... Nice. This should be very easy._ Then another, much more logical reason came to him. Ares was missing his targets because none of them had challenged him. In other words, Ares was breaking even more Ancient Laws by attacking demigods without prior provocation. It wasn't anger that was making him miss, it were some vague Ancient Forces of some sorts. What were they called again? Oh right, Fates.

"With distinction and a few awards, it seems," Harry added, angering Ares even more.

" **You think you're so** _ **damned**_ **smart, don't you?** " Ares roared, " **But I will make you wish that Athena never created you! I SHALL NOT BE DENIED!"**

"Firstly, I don't think I am smart. I would have to drop, like 90 IQ points to be labelled smart. I, my good sir, am a _genius._ Know the difference." Harry seemed to be offended at being called smart, which confused Percy (who had now gotten over the shock of being shot at), and Annabeth sighed, facepalming. While she knew that Harry was simply angering Ares to get him to confess, it did not mean that he would have to do it like that. He should have instead... Uh.. Okay, she did not have anything better.

"Secondly," Harry continued, "I wish many times that mother would never have created me. That way, I don't need to deal the headache that is known as life." Again, confusion from Percy and faceplaming from Annabeth. "Thirdly, if your girlfriend didn't let you finish, that is not my problem. Or maybe you finished first."

Ares roared, shooting a hail of bullets at Harry. They all missed, of course, as Harry had never challenged the god to a fight. He had insulted him, yes, but never outright said anything to allow Ares to attack him. After all, Harry knew full well Ares would have to be in his semi-god mode (10 foot tall humanoid) to harm them, or call upon his godly power. Ares couldn't do either without alerting Zeus. He had already used some of it by destroying an entire block, which no doubt got the Big Guy's attention. Harming the demigods that were trying to bring back his Master Bolt... That would bring Zeus here personally. And his mother, and Poseidon. Then Ares would be more screwed than he would be in a few seconds.

Harry knew that Ares knew this, which is why he was resorting to attack them directly in order to silence them. It would not work, as none of them had challenged him to a fight or attacked first.

But Harry also knew that if Ares's anger went beyond its limits, then he would not care about any of that, and use his godly energy to kill them.

Which was why Ares needed to confess. Then it would not matter whether they survived after that; World War 3 would have been averted. Of course, this was all assuming that the cameras were transmitting.

"So," Harry said offhandedly, "why did you do it?"

" **Don't you already know?** " Ares said angrily.

"I simply want to know how an idiot like yourself was able to slip by Zeus."

Ares's sunglasses melted as the heat from his eyes went to a whole new level. " **I found the true thief! Then I got an idea. Why not take the Bolt and the Helm, frame Poseidon and Hades, and watch as the world burnt! But then you meddling kids decided to fuck it up! I. Will. Not. Be. Denied. My WAR!** "

"True thief? Who is that?" Harry asked, hoping that Ares would answer, and also prove him wrong by declaring that Luke was not the thief. Sure, his pride would take a great hit if Ares of all people proved him wrong, but that was a small price to pay.

" **The true thief is... Is... Why the fuck would I tell you that?! Your smart ass can figure that out, asshole!"**

What Harry did next shocked everyone through their very essence, even Ares. The son of Athena began to laugh. Very loudly. "Oh man!" Harry said between laughs, "And I thought that the god of war would be more observant than that!"

" **What are you talking about, you little shit?** "

Harry immediately stopped laughing, a glint appearing in his eyes that said, 'Ha-ha! I know something you don't!' "About three meters to your left, by the gray Lexus, then thirty seven degrees West, and finally four meters to your right, by the street lamp. What do you see?"

Ares whipped his head around. What was so damned important about... Then he spotted them. The cameras. All rolling, constantly shooting. Realization dawned on the god of war. His anger rose to astronomical levels, and so did his fear. If those cameras were what he thought they were, then entire Olympus heard him.

" _ **Y-YOU BASTARDS! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU HAVE DONE?!**_ " Ares yelled, his gun shifting to a sword as he charged at Harry. Having no choice, the demigod was forced to block it with his own blade - Ares had come in too fast for Harry to step aside.

With Harry defending, it could be seen as a demigod attacking a god. Ares was now under no obligation to not hit him anymore.

The two clashed blades, looking quite evenly matched. Harry knew that Ares was underestimating him, and that was the only reason why he could keep up. He preferred to keep it that way. While this was happening, Percy and Annabeth had already drawn their respective weapons, and stood ready to jump in if required. Grover was still hiding, behind a street lamp this time.

Harry drew his wand while blocking Ares's slash, and quickly fired a _Reducto_ to Ares's nose. The force behind the spell would have blown up a normal human head, but Ares simply found his neck snapped backwards. Even then, it was not broken or even harmed to a great level. The god's neck had simply turned back. Not wasting any time, Harry tried to stab Ares in the neck, but got kicked backwards. He was lifted off his feet, flying behind by at least a foot.

He landed in a heap besides Percy, having used his magic to soften the fall. He was quite sure his ribs had taken a pretty bad hit, though. They weren't broken, but a similar hit would break them. That was bad, as then there was a possibility that his ribs would be broken inward, thereby piercing his lungs.

As Harry was still a tad bit dazed, and was slowly getting back up to his feet, Percy decided to take over, despite Annabeth warning him to do otherwise. Only Harry had fought Ares, so Ares could only attack Harry. But Harry agreed with Percy's decision. Ares would kill them anyways as he did not care about utilizing his godly powers anymore. It was best to keep him distracted, and keep his attention on the fight.

Percy tried to keep up with Ares as he tried to remember what Luke had taught him. He knew he had to get in close, as he had the shorter blade, and he himself was shorter than Ares. But something told Percy that Ares was not taking him seriously, and was underestimating him more than Harry.

Percy ducked underneath a slash, knowing all he had to do was get a fatal blow on the god. Luke and Harry had told him that while fighting gods, by Ancient Law, the god lost if a mortal/demigod wounded them fatally. He kicked up, with the intent to knock Ares's blade out his hands. But Ares had anticipated his move, and Percy got thrown backwards due to a backhand hit to the face. Quickly regaining his bearings, he attacked the god again, having seen Harry plan things from the corner of his eye. That and he heard Annabeth say something about buying more time.

Harry observed Ares for a while before planning out. He knew what he had to do. In the short while that Ares and he fought, and now after watching Ares and Percy fight, Harry had noted nearly all of Ares's openings. The god's sides were left open when he thought he was going for the kill. His back was almost always to open for attacks. He planted his feet at an exact 42° towards left, and hence had his weight balanced towards the left. A strong enough push in the same direction would make him fall.

His technique was basically a repetition of stab, slash left, slash right, kick, stab whilst attacking. There were a few variations here and there, but that was the basic pattern. Harry knew that Ares was simply playing with them. He could simply use his godly powers and smite them or vaporize them. But he wasn't doing so, because Ares wanted them to suffer.

Harry formed his attack strategy. One, get Percy away. Two, Harry attacks Ares head on while Annabeth explains the plan to Percy. Three, on Harry's signal, both Annabeth and Percy flank the god from the sides, and hope to land a fatal blow. If not, then Harry had a small 2 second window to do it himself as Ares tried to deal with Annabeth and Percy. But there were three assumptions here. One was that Ares would still be playing with them. Two, Harry could handle him. Three, Annabeth and Percy could get a hit.

So he formed another one: Percy would have to attack first this time. Children of Poseidon were resilient to physical abuse (not as much as Ares or Hephaestus kids, but still formidable enough), and hence he could easily get back up on his feet if Ares knocked him around a bit. Kind of what was happening right now. Harry could then back him up via magic by shooting Percy with water, or creating enough water to allow Percy to form a tidal wave.

Ares would not drown, but the wave would knock him off his feet if done right. They were no doubt on top of a sewer system, so Harry knew he had enough water to do that. There were two assumptions here. He was assuming that Percy would get enough boost to handle Ares, and that there was enough water in the sewers to call upon.

He had another plan. All three attacked, two from the sides, and one from front. Like the first one, but the difference was that Percy would be continuing his assault, while Harry and Annabeth attacked from the sides. There would be more openings to exploit that way, and there was only one assumption here: more openings would be created. He had discarded the assumption that Percy could handle Ares as Harry and Annabeth would be there to protect him if necessary. He also knew that Ares would probably not tap into his god powers and vaporize them instantly. He would want to make them suffer first. Also, he would be using the marine water conjuration to power up Percy and heal his wounds.

It was rather obvious now that Harry thought about it. And the fact that Ares had been playing around with Percy rather than end him instantly, which was what anyone else would have done.

Harry and formed all three strategies in less than five seconds, and decided to go with the last within one. Occam's Razor said that always accept the hypothesis with the lowest number of assumptions.

Harry got his plan across to his sister and Percy via legillemency.

Percy was a bit startled when he heard Harry's voice in his brain, so Harry was forced to pull the younger boy back with an _Accio_ lest he bedecapitated. Percy was then splashed with a huge torrent of salt water and all his bruises healed, strength pumping through his being.

Meanwhile, Ares was enjoying this. Sure, he had not yet caused any major injury, but he wanted to make them feel fear, and then once they have pissed their pants, then he would cut off a limb or two. After they start crawling on the floor and begin to beg for mercy, he would kill the goat. By then, Ares was sure that the brats' parents would be watching, so when the brats decide to beg for help from their parents, he would cut their heads off.

Yeah, that was such a good plan.

Ares wondered why weren't any of them attacking, even though it had been a full thirty seconds since the Potter brat hit the Jackson brat with water. Not that it would make any difference, and Ares was glad that Jackson had been recharged. Now he had the added advantage of breaking the boy. He knew that the kids were strategizing (was that even a word? Ares didn't care if it was). He let them; to him strategy was not so important. All he ever did was point, shoot, target goes boom. It worked everytime.

Harry sighed. It was a pain to explain his entire plan to Percy. At least Annie did not question his plan... but that was to be expected of his sister. He was glad Ares had let him explain; it seems the god was arrogant enough to think it won't matter. He would be _very_ happy to prove him otherwise.

As planned, Percy once again charged Ares, and Annabeth and Harry charged from the sides.

Here Harry realized one flaw with his reasoning with the plan. Ares shifted his attention to Harry, singling him out. Harry was forced to duck underneath a slash and respond with his own. The two fought, and Percy and Annabeth were forgotten.

"What the hell?!" Percy yelled. He was sure it would work.

"Of course! Ares considers Harry to be the greatest threat! We have to support by flanking Ares!" Annabeth said. Her big brother hardly made mistakes, so she was a bit surprised that he made one. But he was human, and hence prone to mistakes...

"So we improvise?"

"Yes!"

Grinning, Percy attacked from the right. No more complex plans! He did not count on Ares swatting him away like a fly before re-engaging in his fight with Harry.

"Wait for my signal, Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth yelled. Harry could not afford to get distracted; Ares was starting to get serious.

Harry grimaced when he came to the same conclusion. He still couldn't believe he made such an elementary mistake. He had no time to dwell on the matter. Ares was slowly gaining the upper hand. Then it hit him.

 _I would need to give them an exact moment... And that is when he is about to kill me..._

Reckless, yes. Stupid? Of course it was. But Ares was predictable. He would try and break his spirit before killing him. Percy and Annabeth would have to stab his neck in that time frame.

"Remember," he heard his little sister tell Percy, "Hit the neck. A lot of blood vessels there, that if ruptured, would kill anyone. Gods don't dissolve into dust like monsters, but they are rendered... inactive for a while."

 _Yeah! Go Annie! Make your big bro proud!_

Ares went to grab Harry, and knowing what would happen, Harry let him. Ares slammed him to the ground. Harry gasped in pain, he had once again hardened his body by channeling magic to the area of impact, but it still hurt like a bitch.

Ares grinned. " **Not so proud, are you now? I can kill you so easily!"**

"Then why don't you? Scared?"

Ares growled, driving his sword through Harry's shoulder. Harry roared in pain as the blade passed through the bone and muscles, trying to stop the blood flow by channeling magic to his shoulder.

Ares raised his sword again, laughing like a maniac.

That was as far as he got, as Percy had finally taken the cue to attack, and drove his sword through Ares's neck. Ares gurgled out blood, as it changed to gold ichor and back in Percy's eyes, his eyes not as strong as Harry's.

" **You dare!"** Ares growled, clutching his neck as he fell to his knees. He was 'dying', but not exactly dying. It was like a comatose state gods went in when injured to that level.

 **"** Yes, we do. All's fair in love and war, right?" Harry said tauntingly. Ares gave one last glare and growl as his form disappeared.

Harry then sighed. Magic had subdued the pain enough. But there was still a hole in his shoulder. He moaned in pain as Annabeth applied a All-Heal Salve to his shoulder.

He shuddered a bit when he realized that the wound would leave a very nasty scar.

Rowena was going to murder him if she was feeling merciful. And it was probably for the best if he kept this little wound from Silena. It wasn't lying if it never came up, right?

* * *

Zeus rubbed his forehead as the video feed ended.

All eleven (Mr. D was at camp, and including Hestia) had seen and heard Ares's confession.

The reactions were more or less varied. Zeus wanted to bring his idiot son in the room and banish him to Tartarus. The stunt he pulled was high level treason. But Hera had convinced him otherwise. For someone who threw her own son off a cliff, she could be a very loving mother.

Poseidon was smirking at Zeus, who groaned. He would have to apolo... Apologi- apologize and admit his mistake. But inwardly, Poseidon wanted to gut Ares. Ares had hit his son too many times for his liking.

Athena was calling for his blood; her baby boy had been stabbed through the shoulder by the pig-headed, no good, idiot. She had used a lot more colorful language, but there is no rating in the world that would allow such language. It had earned her a very hard glare from Hestia, but Athena did not care. Ares deserved to rot! Artemis was more or less indifferent, but at least she got to see the look of hatred on Aphrodite's face. That made her day. She did want to punch Ares, but she felt that way every time she saw his ugly face.

Apollo pouted as he paid three hundred drachma to a smirking Hermes; he had bet that it would be Athena's boy who would deliver the final blow. Hephaestus was openly laughing, he had not expected his cameras to pick up such golden material. This was much better than them capturing Ares and Aphrodite!

Aphrodite was glaring at Ares's throne. He had almost ruined her plans for the cute-looking Athena's boy by nearly killing him. Sure, a tragedy once in a while was welcome, but not when the love interest was her daughter. Then it has to end in a happy-ever-after. She was thinking about breaking up with just because of the stunt he pulled. After all, how would love blossom if there was war?

Hestia was going to dish out her own punishment to her wayward nephew. How dare he attack children? And more importantly how dare he try and start fighting within the family? Demeter sighed in her throne, thinking about what cereal to get for her beloved daughter. She wanted to kick Ares in the nuts, though, mostly because his children kept bullying hers.

Zeus finally broke the chaos that Olympus was in, with Athena and Hera arguing quite heatedly as to what to do with Ares. "Enough!" He spoke powerfully, gaining the attention of the Olympians present (and Hestia). "Ares shall henceforth be confined to his Temple for a century. No one," Zeus was looking at his wife and Aphrodite as he said this, "And I mean _no one_ is allowed to visit him. Not one being gets in or out his temple."

"But Zeus, " Hera protested, only to be silenced by her husband.

"But nothing. Be lucky I haven't stripped him of his powers and cast him in Tartarus. What he pulled was high treason. He shall be on probation, however. One wrong move, and he is _out._ Am. I. _Clear?"_

"Crystal, father," Athena said, failing to hide her smirk. "And if I may, father, you should go and get your Bolt from _my_ son who figured it out." The last part was directed at Poseidon, who brooded at her words. Percy may not be smart, but he was powerful, and his son. That mattered to him more than anything.

Zeus glared at his daughter. "You know that we cannot interfere, Athena."

"Ah, but father, who's to say that Hades won't keep both his Helm and your Bolt to himself in return for safe passage for my children?"

Zeus considered Athena's words. He found it hard to argue against them, but it was to be expected; no one had won an argument against her since her birth.

"My son is with them, too, Athena," Poseidon stated.

"So?" Athena asked, playing innocent.

"You forgot him..."

"Again, you assume I care."

Poseidon brooded at that.

"Quiet, both of you. And I suppose Athena is right. We have no way to guarantee that Hades will not keep my Master Bolt to himself," Zeus said, before declaring dramatically, "I shall retrieve it myself."

* * *

Meanwhile, in a closed out dimension where the Fates resided, the three old ladies had witnesses everything as usual.

"That is not the way the quest suppose to end. The prophecy will not be fulfilled," said Clotho.

"Then you should not have stopped me from cutting the string of Athena's boy those many years ago," said Atropos. "We were well aware what we were doing."

Lachesis intervened. "It was necessary, sister. Given the future events, we need something to maintain the balance."

"Indeed," Clotho said. "Despite my previous statement, I am quite eager to see how this turns out. A demigod whose choices and actions are his own... outside our control... and he is already causing large ripples with his seemingly small actions."

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I found myself quite busy with that silly thing called life. And college.**

 **Well, as you can see, this chapter deviates my story from canon, like some of you wanted. I had originally wanted to stick it as close to canon as possible, but the more I thought on it, the more I realized that someone with Harry's intellect can easily figure out what was going on. And thus came along this chapter. Though according to my cousin sister who read the chapter before I pressed the 'upload' button, said that the ending gave away a lot of future events, and proceeded to accurately guess what I had planned. So either the end does spoil things, or she's just extra smart. You tell me, but keep in mind that should you guess, I shall neither confirm nor deny them, so as not to spoil anything for other readers.**

 **And I do hope the fight montage against Ares was satisfactory...**

 **About Zeus going to retrieve the Bolt himself, which I am sure most of you will say he would never agree to, remember that he is one very paranoid god, and he just had his Master Bolt stolen. So when the quest-takers found it, and had to go to Hades - the reason will being that the prophecy requires them to go West, to deliver the stolen item. The prophecy never claims as to what the stolen item was.**

 **Oh, to those of you who don't know the Shakespearean quote Harry was referring to, let me save you a google search (though I have been told that it is quite a common one). The actual quote is from _Romeo and Juliet:_** **Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs.**

 **As always, hope you enjoyed!**

 **P.S. I have left two Naruto/DxD challenges on my profile in case anyone wants them. I would have written them myself, but I don't have the time, or a clear idea on their plot.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer and warnings: refer chapter one**

* * *

 **A/N: reviews!**

 **Rundivyn: Thank you so much for the piece of information. But as to Hedwig being a Snowy Owl, and hence she should have been diurnal, I created a minor plot point that explains about why she is nocturnal. It's not in these two chapters as I still have to smoothen out the rough edges to that, in a manner of speaking.**

 **Diavo: While Pure H2O is not conductive, it has been implied that Aguamenti conjures drinking water (Harry tries to give Dumbledore water via this spell in Half Blood Prince) despite the wiki saying that it conjures pure water. Drinking, potable water, however, contains enough ions for it to transmit electric current. Hop that clears that up.**

* * *

Chapter Nine

* * *

 _(The Rivers Residence, Manhattan)_

Rowena sighed as she finally apparted into her own house. The last week was taken up by an ICW Conference in Geneva. She was one of the nine Grand Sorcerers that ran the ICW. Under them were the 'Supreme Mugwumps' that were basically the delegates of each country. The number of Supreme Mugwumps varied, with some countries having only one (Great Britain, Brazil, Canada, and Russia) to three (most countries). Under the Supreme Mugwumps were the wizards that had no nationality, because their allegiance lay solely to ICW. This was done to ensure that there would be as little bias as possible between them.

Rowena did not particularly know why that last part was put in to play, given that every Grand Sorcerer and Supreme Mugwump was still considered a citizen of their respective countries. But like in every political field, only the idiots were the ones that everyone listened to. It was at places like these that she missed having Salazar around.

During her early life and when her closest friends were still alive, Salazar's silver tongue was effective enough that he always won every court case (he once came out with 1300 gold pieces legally given to him a man who Salazar stole from), got laws that he wanted to pass (including one that legalized harems), etc.

Either way, she was quite happy that it was finally over with.

As was the tradition, even the headmasters of every magic school were also attending, which they did every five years. As Anastasia Rivers (her alias) was also incharge of international education, she had to attend the meeting between the heads of various schools.

She hated these meetings; not even Ozpin's ever so logical thinking could make her remotely enjoy them. But they were made tolerable by the only three headmasters that were not arrogant about everything (or at least acted that way): Ozpin (Beacon), Izanami Yuki (Mahoutokoro, Japan) and Dumbledore (Hogwarts). When she first met him, Rowena was a bit surprised given how the man seemed very humble.

She fully expected him to be very arrogant. Not because he hailed from one of the most arrogance filled places in all of magic-using countries, but because he had tried to play with her little brother's life. But she did not approve of the man leading her school. Dumbledore was always sending mixed feelings in the meetings, always acting like he cared a lot, but not really doing anything about any issue.

And as Rowena was well opposed to using legillemency to find out what he planned for her brother, she held off her curiosity. Every legillemency probe was a two way street. If the victim was skilled enough, he could, potentially tap into your own memories. If he did, there was no way to defend against it. Legillemency believed in 'lower your own shield to attack', as Occulumency was the exact opposite. You could not do both at the same time.

Likewise, one cannot cast a water and a fire spell together, light and dark spell together, and so on. You could cast them one after the other, but not at once. Of course, if you are skilled enough, you could cast spells of opposite nature one after the other so quickly that it seemed like you cast them at the same time.

That was elemental magic one-oh-one.

Rowena knew Dumbledore to be skilled enough to peek into her own mind while she was peeking into his. She would not be able to defend her mind, and hence not only risked revealing herself, but Olympus as well, and most importantly, her brother. Which was why she did not bother trying.

She could have done what gods and goddesses did: use the Mist. It required a very high amount of concentration, to use the Mist to tap into someone's mind if you were not a god. Sure, being Hecate's servant meant that her control over the Mist was quite high, but even then, she needed about ten minutes of sheer concentration to accomplish that task. The only time she met Dumbledore was during the various conferences, and she could not afford to lose connection with the conference to tap into a mind among two hundred minds.

But something interesting had come out of the meetings with the headmasters: talks of an interschool competition to increase interschool cooperation. When Rowena pointed out that the two were exact opposites, it was proposed that one school would host and teach the students of various other schools while having the competition.

When this was proposed, almost all schools declined, but the schools that agreed decided to go with it anyways. Dumbledore looked extremely eager to host this, and Rowena knew Hogwarts to be big enough to do so. Currently, Beacon, Durmstrang, Hogwarts and Beauxbatons had agreed. The current plan was to send 5 representatives from each school to the host school, along with a teacher.

Rowena was not at all surprised when the other two American schools, Western Academy of the Arcane (Pasadena) and Salem Institute of Magic (Salem) pulled out. Western was run by a 134 year old vampire, and Salem was going into a steady decline because of poor maintaince and management. No way that Arthur Tepes (the vamp) would go to a country where his kind are looked down upon.

All Beacon, Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang were waiting for was the nods from their respective governments.

Rowena was sure that they would receive said nod, as it would show to the world which school was the best once and for all.

She was brought out of her thoughts by a "Welcome back!" from the three Founders. She smiled at them, replying with a thanks.

"You might want to tune in to Hephaestus TV," Salazar said. "There is something very interesting going on."

Rowena raised her brow, before turning on her TV, and quickly tuning in to H-TV. Salazar hardly watched TV since he discovered the Internet. This action had made Rowena nearly strangle the long dead wizard for convincing her brother to design a rune that allowed him to connect to the Internet. The only reason she had not taken it off was because she was not sure how Harry would react to it. He had spent nearly a month designing it.

Putting the thoughts away, she focused her attention to the nymph who was hosting the show.

 _"...and that concludes our thrilling piece on Lady Aphrodite's latest fashion reviews! And up next: Weather, hosted by Lord Aleolus!"_

Rowena glared at Salazar. "I have better things to do than listen to stupid weather!"

"Go to his primary channel! Not the one with stupid shows. Well except _Apollo's Guide!"_

Rowena sighed. _Apollo's Guide_ was basically a show where the sun god tried (and failed) to impress ladies with his poetry. Rowena was surprised that Artemis let him get away with such a show when it first came out, but assumed that the goddess had better things to do.

She then changed to Hephaestus's primary channel, where the god usually posted his pranks on Ares and Aphrodite, and also a show where he showed the viewer how he built most of his famous creations.

So, when she tuned in to the channel, she expected an over the top prank on the blacksmith's wife and brother. She did not expect to learn that Ares was the thief of Zeus's Master Bolt, or at least an accomplice. She also did not expect to see her younger brother's face on the TV screen as the one who caught Ares.

A vein throbbed on her forehead as her worry and anger rose through the roof. In fact if her control over magic was any lesser than it was, it would have lashed out of sheer worry she felt for her brother. And how dare he go on a quest without her permission?

Harry was _so_ grounded when he gets back.

* * *

Harry rose to his feet groggily, clutching his left shoulder as it throbbed with pain. He had swapped about three All-Heal Swabs, and eaten a lot of Ambrosia. So much that he was sure it would have burned him if it weren't for his magic.

Even so, his shoulder had not been fully healed. There was a _hole_ in the limb after all. But at least he could move it around. He was glad as Ares had not stabbed his sword hand; it would have been very difficult to survive if he had.

His pride would not allow him to simply sit back while his sister and Percy got all the fun.

His pride was also ignoring Annabeth's plea of him laying down.

"You ever wonder how awesome it would be if monsters dropped health or mana potions or gold coins rather than a stupid trophy that eats dust sitting on the ledge?" Harry asked. He simply wanted to divert the topic off his wounded shoulder.

Annabeth gave him a cross look. "This is not a MMORPG."

"But it could be one," Harry whined. "We have gods, demons, monsters, dragons and the like! We even recieve quests! And if the last few hours were any indication, we even have side quests!"

Percy nodded. "We just need a levelling up system."

Harry gave him a look. "You don't know what a furry is, yet you have played a MMO? How in the hell is that possible?!" Harry (much to Rowena's chagrin) learnt so many words that he was not supposed to just after three hours of WoW. And here was Percy, who knew nothing on the... crude side of English, but had played a MMO.

"I played offline RPG's," Percy replied. "Mom wouldn't let me get any MMORPG."

Harry sighed, about to reply when the sky considerably darkened, thunderclouds forming. But the rate of their formation was incredibly slow.

Harry took the Bolt from Grover's hands, wondering if it had caused the storm. "This is confusing..." He said after a while.

"What is?" Annabeth asked.

"Here. Take it and you'd know." Harry handed over the Bolt.

Annabeth held it rather reluctantly, and knew immediately what he was referring to. She had no idea what so ever how to use it. This was the odd part. Athena was a war goddess, and hence her children knew instinctively how to use any weapon they came into contact with.

The sky was now filled with thunder clouds, and Annabeth gave the Bolt back to Harry as a large arc of lightning hit the ground in front of them, kicking up a huge dust cloud. The demigods and the satyr could make out a humanoid shape as the dust cleared.

Harry then bowed as dust cleared entirely, revealing a 30 or so year old handsome man with sky blue eyes, short black hair and a trimmed goatee. He was dressed in a blue suit, and practically radiated a lot of power that demanded attention and respect.

Seeing Harry bow, Grover and Annabeth bowed as well, the later dragging down Percy as she did so.

"Lord Zeus," Harry said, "We are honored to be in your presence." He did not want to greet the King in his usual way; not when he was about to present his most powerful weapon to him.

Zeus smiled. Of course he would recieve the respect he deserved from his own grandson. His smile vanished when he saw the Sea Spawn and the satyr that screwed up his daughter's life. Putting those thoughts away, he held his hand out, allowing the Master Bolt fly into his hands. He then held it upwards, firing electricity into the clouds.

He then addressed the four of them.

"You have done Olympus a great service. I expect your presence on Olympus after the Summer Solstice meeting for your rewards."

"I mean no disrespect, my lord, but why not give them to us here?" Harry asked.

"Because it is the Olympian way." Zeus said. He may or may not have been threatened with death by 'spreading rumours about how he had six girlfriends', courtesy of his eldest sister if he did not reward the demigods in front of the whole council. Hera (rather unfortunately) believed in kneeing his bits first, ask questions later when it was rumours about a single woman. Rumours about six? He did _not_ want to find out what would happen.

"Well, I still have a few–"

Zeus disappeared in a flash of electricity. He knew that look; Athena had the same one when she had so many questions that it made your head swirl.

"questions. Why does everyone do that when I have questions?" Harry added the last part in a confused tone.

"We should get moving," Percy said. "I don't know how long can my mother survive in the Underworld."

"True. By the way, did your father give you a specific time as to when you should go to Santa Monica?"

"Wait, are we glossing over the fact that the Big Guy came here, in person, to take his Bolt?" Grover cut in, but was ignored.

"Well, he didn't really give any time, but I was told before we descend into the Underworld," Percy replied.

"Guys! We can _not_ just gloss over this! He even invited us to Olympus!"

"So technically you can go there next month and still fulfill your end of the deal, 'cause you will descend into the Underworld when you die."

"So I am dying next month?" Percy asked dryly.

"Not necessarily, but that would be before you die, and hence before you go to the Underworld. Unless you were told to visit the first time around, of course."

Annabeth was giving Harry a critical expression, trying to determine what he was up to.

"Guys!" Grover tried to get their attention again.

"Why are you trying to stop me from meeting my father?"

"Because I am on a time limit here," Harry said. He had just realized that his house also received H-TV, and Rowena had no doubt found out about him going on the quest. And possibly his shoulder injury. "So, I want to enjoy my time with... the Camp to the fullest."

While Percy was confused and Grover had given up on the three, Annabeth smirked as she realized what Harry was trying to do. "You just want to be treated by Silena for that wound!"

Harry's cheeks were dusted with pink as he said, "Why would she do that?"

"Last year when you broke your arm? She took such great care of you!"

Harry blushed a bit more, "O-Of course I don't! I would not take advantage of her like that!"

Annabeth was smiling widely now. This was revenge for all the teasing he did! Even Percy and Grover were smirking at the older boy. "Who's the one that says that it's not taking advantage of someone if that someone does it from kindness of their hearts?"

Harry was wondering if quoting Salazar all the time was a good idea, but soon came to a realization that he didn't have a good retort. That was preposterous! He, Hadrian Potter, not get the last word? Blasphemy!

So, to respond in kind: attack his sister's (so called as per his point of view) crush and stop it's growth at the same time! Two birds with one stone!

"Oh, you do not want to play this game li'l sis," Harry said.

"Oh, and why is that, big bro?"

"I can dissolve the Cabin 6 - Cabin 11 alliance. You know what that means right?"

Annabeth froze. This was a bluff, she thought to herself. It had to be. No way he would dissolve a cabin alliance against Luke! Everyone got along with Luke, and Harry was... a completely cold hearted, manipulative mastermind that would completely go ahead with this if it meant his victory.

"Y-You would not d-dare," she stuttered.

"Try me," Harry smirked at his sister, who was glaring at him.

Percy and Grover wondered why didn't they watch the interaction with popcorn. It was quite amusing.

* * *

Percy yawned as the four of them got out in Los Angeles, having bought train tickets straight to the city. Harry and Annabeth had gotten into many childish arguments concerning Annabeth's crush on Luke since she accused him of wanting to end the quest early to be with Silena.

That had not stopped Annabeth from sleeping on his shoulder while Harry rested his head on top of hers. Percy would have smiled at the sight, but he was too busy keeping the shoes on Grover's feet as they kept falling off.

They then took a cab to Santa Monica beach, even though Harry wanted to go straight to DOA Studios. He was mostly outvoted; Percy wanting to meet his father while Annabeth and Grover didn't want to offend Poseidon. Harry had to take out even more money from the Wizarding Bank because they ran out during the trip.

Harry had limits on how much he could withdraw, set in place by his sister. It was at times like these that he wished Gringotts would allow minors to own debit cards at the very least.

Once they reached the beach, Percy walked down to the sea, and submerged himself entirely. He was quite disappointed when his father did not show, but rather a Nereid from his court. She gave him four pearls and told him something about how his father loved and cared for him. And also a vague set of instructions on how to use the pearls.

Harry was unclear as to what they did, but allowed Percy to keep them anyways. They may come in handy sometime sooner or later.

* * *

The four quest takers got off the taxi at Hollywood by afternoon. Neither of them had any idea where DOA Studios was, and even with Harry's clear eyes, they could not find it.

They did run into a bunch of wannabe thugs, but Harry sent them packing by confounding them into believing that the "most gangsta" thing to do is to rob a SWAT officer. Needless to say, the thugs were in jail.

By sundown, they were resting up at the side of a road, completely at odds with what to do next.

"Ok, now what?" Grover asked as he sat down at the side of the footpath, resting his back against a building. He looked like a homeless satyr sitting like that; with his rasta cap and extremely dusty clothes.

"I believe I have an idea," Harry said as he eyed a building straight in front of them that said, _Sunline Studios._

"Follow me. We'll be asking for directions in there."

"Why?" all three of them questioned the oldest camper (mentally, anyways) present.

"Because... figure it out."

Annabeth seemed to catch on. Sunline Studios? Apollo was not very subtle, was he? But she didn't explain it to the remaining members; Harry always said that let people solve a particular problem on their own. That is the only way they truly understand.

All four of them walked into the building, only to find it empty. The offices were empty, there were no security guards, nothing. It sort of made sense to Harry; Apollo would not keep any guards as he could see everything, and the fact that the employees here worked for a god. Needless to say that they were the best at what they did. Not to mention, the studio was probably only open from dawn to dusk.

But Harry was careful not to touch anything. Not because he was afraid of Apollo getting offended, but because he was sure that if he used a blacklight, it would no doubt light up the entire place. There was a reason why there were 20 kids in Apollo cabin and 27 in Hermes (of which only 7 were Hermes's kids). The next was Aphrodite and even she had only 12 members. Kind of spoke volumes as to how much the sun god slept around.

Grover had no such fears. He was happily eating away at a desk.

Harry felt him flash into the room before Apollo yelled at Grover not to eat the table. Percy, who had fallen asleep in one of the many chairs sat up straight, and fell because he lost balance. Annabeth readied her knife, ready to attack the mysterious and admittedly handsome blonde seventeen year old.

And Grover? He spat out a few timbers, "I didn't eat that! It was ummm... Percy! Percy did it!"

"Lord Apollo, I apologize for trespassing, but we needed directions to the Underworld," Harry cut in, before Percy could strangle the goat-man.

Annabeth discreetly hid her dagger, hoping that Apollo had not seen it. Apollo had, but he did not harm girls, so he let it slide. Besides, it was obvious that she was going to be a beauty in 2-3 years, and then he would... wait for her to turn 18. Stupid age of consent, always getting in his way of getting laid.

"No harm done, Harry!" Apollo said brightly, "I wanted to meet you anyways!"

Harry was confused. Why did Apollo want to meet him? He, unlike his sister or Percy (and Grover) was not the least bit confused as to how Apollo knew his name. He was a god; they could read your mind irrespective of how powerful your occulumency is.

"Not that I not honoured, but why?" Harry asked.

"Because you think that I am better than li'l sis in archery!"

Harry blinked. Didn't Artemis help Leto birth Apollo? Shouldn't she be the elder sister? He decided not to question the matter. And how did Apollo know that Harry felt he was better?

"Well, that makes sense?" He was just as confused as everyone who was not named Apollo.

"Of course it does! But that wound in your shoulder is going to reopen in a while. As soon as the All-Heal Swab wears off."

Harry knew full well what Apollo was talking about. The Salve had simply stopped the bleeding and made the wound less conspicious. But if not fully healed, the Salve's healing magic fails to do anything and there was always a chance of reopening the wound because of lack of healing magic.

Harry had three hours tops before the latest Swab wears off. He had been changing them quite regularly to ensure that it would not start bleeding again.

Apollo took a few steps towards Harry, and before anyone could react, poked Harry's wound. Harty screamed as a white hot pain shot through his shoulder, before subsiding.

Hearing Harry scream, Percy and Annabeth got ready to fight another god, but stopped when Harry said a thank you to Apollo.

"But couldn't you do it painlessly?" Harry asked rhetorically as he moved around his completely healed shoulder.

"I was regrowing, rearranging and replacing many layers of muscles and neurovascular fibres. There would be pain, ya know!" Apollo said with a smile.

"Umm so, any price that we have to–"

"Oh no-no-no-no-no! First treatment is always free of cost!" Apollo grinned.

"And the directions to the Underworld?" Harry asked after another 'thank you' .

"Don't you have any better ideas rather than to deliver the Helm directly?" Apollo said with a grimace.

Harry sighed. "I did propose that we sell the damn thing on eBay, and keep the price so ridiculously high that only Dead Guy can afford to buy it. But was outvoted on the matter."

Apollo sighed, giving them their directions. He only asked for them to listen to a haiku.

Thinking that Apollo's haikus must be exceptionally good, as he was the god of music, the four of them agreed.

Apollo took a deep breath.

 _"Four demigods came to me_

 _They all needed my much helpful self_

 _I am so amazing"_

Not wanting to offend the god, and listen to another haiku that was so horrible and that had not been following the correct syllable sequence of 5-7-5, they all clapped, and decided to be on their way, with Harry giving the excuse that Zeus might catch them and punish them.

As he watched them leave, Apollo's grin dropped to a more serious visage. Now that he had met Athena's golden boy, he could not see his future. This worried Apollo greatly. As the god of prophecies, Apollo could see a vague future of everyone he met. He knew the fates of the other two demigods and the satyr, but not of Harry. Of course, he was sworn into secrecy about such matters by the Fates themselves, so he won't tell people their futures and cause a great disturbance in the balance of the Universe.

But for some reason he was allowed an Oracle, who did the same.

Back to Harry, Apollo decided that the best way to figure out what was keeping him from seeing his future was the Fates.

And he just knew that he was lying about his awesome haiku. It wasn't good! It deserved a... whatever award they give for haikus. If they didn't, they should start. And call them Apollo Awards.

* * *

As the three demigods and the satyr (who was quite astounded by meeting three gods within the same week) walked into DOA Studios, they noticed that the number of dead people in this place was so high that it made them wonder why was it named Dead or Alive Studios.

Harry walked up to the receptionist, who was wearing a black Italian suit, and had unnaturally pale skin. Like paler than albino pale. His eyes were dark, and so was his cropped hair. Harry did not need to read the name tag to know that this wad Charon.

"We need a ride straight to Hades," Harry said. Charon looked at him, probably wondering if Harry was crazy.

"Well, that's new," Charon said in a British accent. "None of these arses ever say that!"

"Yeah whatever. About that ride, Charon?"

"Mr. Charon," the ferryman said. "And I don't give rides for free. Why do you think that there are so many dead people here? Can't pay for the ride."

Annabeth and Percy looked surprised and appalled. "Not everyone has drachma!" Annabeth exclaimed.

"I charge credit cards, girlie."

Harry sighed. "Why do you need money anyways?"

Charon looked offended. "Why? WHY? You think these Italian suits come cheap? Do you?"

Harry stared back unflinchingly. "But you can easily conjure the suits."

"Then they would be Underworld Suits. Not Italian."

Harry realized that this was a waste of time. "We need a ride. Now."

"And why? Lord Hades doesn't entertain souls unless they have an appointment."

"We're not dead, and does this count for an appointment?" Harry opened his backpack, showing him the Helm.

"Is that?"

Harry nodded.

"Four drachmas."

Harry sighed dramatically. "Well you heard the man! Oh what will Lord Hades do to him! He who denies us access because we don't have any money! And to think we came all this way to give him his Helm!"

Charon panicked. "Ok, ok. Free ride. But you must ask for a pay raise on my behalf."

Harry smirked, while Percy and Grover chuckled and Annabeth was debating whether she wanted to learn how to manipulate people.

* * *

Charon was able to drop them at the usual place where he dropped souls, because the Styx did not flow near Hades's palace. Apparently the god had to move his palace when Persephone wanted a lot of gardening space and the Styx kept flooding her favourite flower patches from time to time.

As the four of them got off the boat, they heard a loud howl. "Looks like ol' three face is hungry. Bad luck," Charon commented, before sailing off.

Harry sighed, hoping that him being Hecate's grandson was enough to get the Cerberus to back off. If not, he would have to distract the dog by a ball or a chew toy. Like a certain son of Poseidon who fell on Annabeth on the boat. Sure, he claimed it was an accident, but Harry just knew that Percy was lying. He refused to meet Harry's eyes, and one could easily find out by looking into the eyes if a person is lying. Especially if you are a skilled legillimens. Also that blush on his face meant something, right?

He had ignored his sister when she supported Percy; he must have threatened her with... Something. He needed about five minutes to figure out something plausible. He was more worried about the Underworld sapping them of their strength. He could feel it; himself getting weaker slowly and gradually.

But first he needed to figure out how to get past Cerberus.

They had gotten close to the Court, where the three judges would be deciding what to do with a soul. The line was humongous, and even the EZ-Death Line was not small.

As Percy noticed a rogue preacher get dragged away by the security ghouls, Harry had formulated a well enough plan to get past Cerberus. His Cloak would not work; the dog no doubt knew its smell. He just had to –

GRRRRR...

...

...

"Its in front of us, right?" Harry asked.

"Yeah. 'it' is a he, though. And he says he gives us ten seconds to pray to the god of our choice before, well, chomp-chomp," Grover said. "But he is giving you 20 seconds, Harry, cause you smell like Lady Hecate."

Percy then got a brilliant idea of throwing a stick into the Styx. The Cerberus looked quite offended.

In the end, Harry and Annabeth had to distract the three headed Rottweiler by a transgfigured chew toy. Percy would've claimed that the chew toy looked a lot like him, but kept his mouth shut.

There was a problem, though.

Annabeth was an animal-lover by nature, and so she got a bit too attached to Cerberus. She was once again giving Harry the Eyes.

"Nope."

"But–"

"Trade of Cerberus is illegal, as counting this one, there are only 6 in the world. Can't get you one."

Annabeth pouted, while Harry sighed in relief. He was quite sure his mother would have a fit if there was a three headed pup in her cabin.

* * *

Hades's Palace resembled Olympus to quite an extent. Harry could easily spot the same plan for the walkways, the places the gates were, and how the door was. They had only one small complication before reaching; Grover's shoes flew off, dragging him to the general direction of Tartarus.

But Harry had simply pulled Grover back with a summoming spell, while simultaneously banishing the shoes. Grover had yet not stopped thanking him.

As they walked up to the giant door that was guarded by ghosts of different militaries, it opened up immediately. "I think this means entrez-vous," Annabeth muttered.

"Of course it does."

The inside was a huge garden with delicious looking fruits (they had to stop Grover from eating them) that lead to another door, causing Harry to question whether Janus made this place. This too opened on its own.

They found their way to the throne room, where Hades was sitting on his giant throne, clad in a black robe that seemed to be made out of souls. He had the appearance of a 30 year old man with shoulder length, silky jet black hair and olive skin, as well as eyes that seemed to darken the entire room if you stared into them for too long. There was another throne beside Hades that was made of flowers (the rose bush that made the back seemed very uncomfortable) that no doubt was Persephone's.

But it was summer, so she would be above ground. Harry did wonder about what would happen to this system if the influence of the gods extended all the way to the Southern Hemisphere, where it was winter right now.

"So you have come, godlings," Hades spoke, his voice being as silky as his hair. Harry realized that Salazar could have passed as Hades's son by the death god's current appearance alone.

Percy, being the impulsive demigod that he was, immediately demanded that he see his mother. Before Hades could reply, Harry slapped him upside the head.

"Ignore him," Harry said. "But we have your Helm, so return back the living souls to the living."

Harry produced the Helm before Hades, and the god inspected it, to see whether it was real or not. "You have done me a great service, godlings," Hades finally spoke, "and so, in return, I shall return Sally Jackson to the world of living."

"Lord Hades, may I be allowed just one question? Apart from this one, I mean," Harry asked.

Hades waved his hand in a 'proceed' sort of manner.

"Do you love your demigodly nephews and nieces, especially from the blood of your brothers a bit too much?"

Annabeth, Percy, and Grover had their jaws planted on the ground as soon as they heard this. Hades looked at Harry menacingly, and the temperature went down a couple degrees. "What makes you think that, godling?" He said in a decpetively calm voice.

"Well, given how you seem to always send all sorts of monsters after them..."

"I am quite sure sending monsters after demigods is for an entirely different purpose."

"If they kill the monsters, they grow stronger," Harry continued. "If they die at the hands of the monsters, then there is a 96% chance that they die a heroic death, and go straight to Elysium, aka, Eternal Paradise. Seems like you have a hard time expressing it."

Annabeth, at this point, was praying for her brother's safety.

"I mean, you could just let them be, and who knows, they might actually do something that lands them in Punishment instead."

Hades stopped as the words hit home. Then he thought back on it. Which demigod was sent to Punishment lately? There was Hitler, but his asshole son, was, just that. An asshole. The paperwork he generated... Ghastly! Then there was... Uhh... No one who died from a monster attack, that was for sure. For some reason the monsters only targetted the demigods when they were with friends and family.

Had he been doing the opposite of torturing his idiot siblings?

...

"WHAT HAVE I DONE?!" Hades yelled, scaring Grover and Percy. And Annabeth and Harry as well, but they (tried and failed) hid it. They had an image to keep.

"ALECTO!" Hades yelled again, and the fury materialized next to him.

"The Holding Cells with these four, milord?" the fury questioned, eager to get more toys.

"No, no. Cancel Demigod torture plans 1 through 97,342."

The demigods and the satyr would be surprised at the amount of plans if they weren't busy trying to get a hold of themselves.

Alecto looked like a kicked puppy... with a bat like face and scaly wings. Harry knew it won't be long until that face shows up in his nightmares. "Even plan 456 and 11,479?"

"Especially 456 and 11,479."

Alecto started... crying. Did Furies do that? No one (including Hades) was aware that Furies could cry. It was rather disturbing. She flew off before anyone could say anything, moaning something about corkscrews, monkey wrenches and a bottle of Benadryl.

...

...

"Uhhh..." Harry began.

"Shut up and get out before I choose to kill someone."

They quickly left, and threw a large gold nugget (that was NOT stolen from Hades, not at all) into the Styx to make Charon appear. They bribed the ferryman with a bag of drachmas to allow them to return.

* * *

 **A/N: And I am back! Thank you so much for all of you who wished me luck for my exams and for reading! As an apology note for being so late and as a Christmas gift, here are two chapters at once! And my exams were fun to write (note the sarcasm)! But the results are not out yet so I don't know how good or bad I did. I think I did good, though.**

 **And also sorry** **for the abrupt ending of this chapter... But you're getting another one straight away, so we should be fine.**

 **Oh, and I realized that I had made a major mistake with the timeline. I had kept Percy and Annabeth's birthdays in '93 while the quest started in 2005 (the year the book released). But they would still be 11, and not 12 as both their birthdays are after the quest' s events. To rectify this, I am shifting their year of birth to '92. Not that it matters in the bigger picture, but thought to let you know.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer and warnings: refer chapter one**

* * *

Chapter Ten

* * *

The trip back to Manhattan was more or less uneventful, except for two instances where they ran into a Party Pony Convention (why were they on a train station and drunk with root beer was anyone's guess) and the other where the train was almost attacked by a Nemean Lion. Luckily, the Lion was a mere cub, and hence could not catch up to it.

The entire trip took around a day and a half, bringing their total number of days on the quest to be around 6 or so.

As the four of them got out in Grand Central, Harry and Percy parted ways with Annabeth and Grover, the former claiming that he was going to his death (aka Rowena) and the later wanting to visit his mother. Harry also told Annabeth to tell Silena that he was sorry for 'not coming back early, but I heard that girls like men who come late.'

Annabeth had slapped him upside the head and told him to do it himself.

* * *

Harry got out of the cab just outside of his building when he saw something out of place. A giant, like chest-level giant black furred dog that resembled a Grim. It was in a leash, which was held by an attractive blond woman with blue eyes and a petite frame. Both had were walking along the footpath, so Harry had a side view of them both.

He knew that this dog was different; his earliest memories involved him playing with the fur of a similar dog. If his suspicion was correct, then this dog was an animagus.

The animagus form of his godfather, Sirius Black.

Luckily for Harry, Rowena had taught him to detect an animagus with a subtle spell of her own creation. The target didn't even know that the fact that they were an animagus was revealed. Unlike the widely used one, which forcefully induced an animal to human transformation, this one only made the target gain a soft blue glow if target was an animagus.

Nothing happened if the target was not an animagus.

Harry cast the spell discreetly, and he was right in his suspicion. The dog had a soft blue glow around him that disappeared within a second. Harry sighed; his godfather was an idiot.

* * *

Sirius Black was quite happy. Diane, the woman helping him, had finally finished the portkey, and they had used it immediately, not caring if it would fail or not.

But they were distracted by the intense making out while the portkey was accidentally activated.

They had landed in Central Park, and Sirius had immediately transformed into his animagus form. Diane had then put a leash on him, stating that it would look more natural. Sirius knew otherwise; his new... sort of friend-with-benefits was quite kinky.

They began walking around, apparating here and there sometimes when no one was looking, and had finally come near a residential area not far from where they landed, that screamed rich people live here.

And that was when it went downhill.

Diane suddenly dropped his leash, and began walking like he didn't exist. Then, he was covered in some silvery cloth and knew that he was being dragged. Fearing for the worst, that he had been recognized, Sirius tried to break free, but found himself knocked out.

* * *

Harry grunted as he dragged his godfather, wrapped in his Invisibility Cloak, into his home. The woman he was with had been hit with a tracking charm as well as confounding charm, so no real harm done there. He had to knock out Sirius; he would have spoiled the Cloak's elasticity.

He entered his home, to find out that it was empty.

"Where's sis?" He asked.

"Lady Hecate called her for the monthly report," Helga answered, as she noticed that Harry was unwrapping something from his Cloak. It was a dog. He set the dog on the sofa, while taking a seat on the opposite chair.

"You know how she gets when you bring strays into the house," Helga said. She knew that Rowena was already angry at Harry, and this would simply make her more angry.

"Not a stray per se," Harry replied as he ennervated Sirius. "An animagus. Sirius Black, you know, my godfather."

"I will make myself scarce, then," Helga disappeared to... somewhere within the house just as Sirius woke up.

He (still in dog form) looked around the obviously Ravenclaw themed penthouse, before settling his eyes on Harry.

"I know who you are. Just transform. We need to talk."

Sirius transformed into his human form. He looked like... a long haired Gary Oldman? Harry wondered if the two were distantly, like very distantly related. Sirius had a very surprised expression on his face. "You knew my animagus form? And you are not trying to kill me?"

Harry raised a brow. "I have an eidetic memory - I remember everything. And why would I want to kill you?"

"Because the world believes I betrayed your parents."

"Did you?"

"No!" Sirius replied angrily.

"Then that settles that."

"You believe me?" Sirius was happy. Extremely so. But he was forgetting something. Or someone. "Wait where's Diane?"

"Don't worry. She's just taking a nice stroll around the block. And my mom had a diary that explained everything."

"Eh, Lily hexed anyone who called it a diary. It was always a journal. But why would you have it?"

Harry sighed. How to tell a moral that it was a god that brought the belongings of his parents to him? He had to think of –

"Did your godly mother bring it for you?"

Harry stared at the British wizard in disbelief.

"Your father told me about the circumstances of your birth."

Harry thanked his father mentally for solving one of his problems, and replied with a yes. Not that Athena had brought him their belongings, but Sirius did not need to know who really brought them. It might just give away who is the owner of this house, which would cause said owner to get creative in her punishment.

Harry would join Grover's flying shoes that were partying in Tartarus before he would let Rowena get creative.

Wait. Keeping the Founders a secret.

"BITCHES COWER BEFORE THE MIGHT OF THE ALMIGHTY SALAZAR SLYTHERIN!"

Yep. He was screwed.

Salazar never really cared for the hiding part, and loved to give out secrets. For a price, of course, but a portrait does not need money. So, he settled on the priceless looks instead. This was why Rowena always put him in stasis when they had guests, but totally worth it.

Harry swore under his breath. He was more dead than he already was. Funny. Hades wanted him out of Underworld, and Rowena would probably send him back.

And how did Salazar get past the censoring rune?

 _A lengthy explanation later..._

"So, you were raised by Rowena Ravenclaw, and grew up around the Founders," Sirius said in disbelief. "Lucky..."

Harry shook his head tiredly.

"Oi, you're a Black right?" Salazar asked out of the blue.

Sirius, who still had a hard time believing that Salazar was not the man he was portrayed as, replied with a nod.

"I had my first anal with a Black. She was a kinky woman, too."

"I see... Wait, what?"

* * *

Rowena wanted to rip her hair out. The entire time she was out with Hecate, who wanted to meet her at a local baseball game (her daughter, Lou Ellen, was playing), the titaness/goddess had nothing but asked about Harry.

In any other circumstance, where her brother was _not_ acting like Godric, she would have been extremely proud of him. She still was, don't get her wrong, but it was mostly overwhelmed by her worry.

As she drove back to her penthouse, she wondered whether he was back yet. And as to why she was driving rather than apparating, there was a reason why she had bought an Audi. She loved driving. Not that it mattered environmentally, the car was literally zero emission as it ran on magical energy battery.

When she neared the door of her house, she noticed the rug had been dampened, and it looked like someone had dragged something inside. There was only one other person who could enter her house and not activate the security wards (not counting gods).

At least he had the bravery to come back.

Of course, she was not expecting her brother covering his face with his palm, something he did when he was extremely exasperated, and a long haired, tall, pale skinned man and Salazar exchanging their sexcapades.

Rowena cleared her throat, stopping all conversation.

Harry and Sirius both gulped for different reasons. Harry because now he would be screwed, and Sirius because he was sitting in front of _the_ Rowena Ravenclaw. Salazar, meanwhile, had hooked on to the Internet via the rune. What was he doing? You guessed right: porn.

"Glad to see you are back. With Sirius Black it seems."

 _Another_ _explanation later_

Rowena had kicked out Sirius out of her house (after making him swear on the Styx to not reveal anything about her and Harry) and told him to come back later. When he asked when later was, Rowena had simply replied that it was after sooner. It was rude, yes, but she needed to discipline her brother. Harry had told his godfather to go to a hotel – no one here would expect who he was, and even Rowena was kind enough to provide him with Mist-aided false identity.

As soon as he had left, Rowena had chewed Harry out for not informing her. To escape from the situation, Harry had did what every teenager did: shift the blame. He had argued that Camp Rules stated that he only needed to ask Chiron, and the centaur had agreed. He should have told her, yes, but he couldn't just let Percy go on the quest all alone, mostly because he fit the Poseidon stereotype except for the whole playboy thing.

In the end, and after Harry accidentally revealed that they had fought Medusa (that had led to another argument), Rowena had allowed him to go to Camp. Well, technically Godric had after he heard the argument, and Harry had bolted out the door after the angry daughter of Athena said otherwise.

Harry did come back a minute later. He had forgotten his backpack.

And that was when the entire drama ended, with the two siblings having a heart-to-heart talk. It was decided that Harry would not do anything risky (by Rowena's perspective; and that meant anything from him going to the supermarket to fighting a god depending on her mood) without consulting her first. And Rowena would not do anything (much) if she was informed.

Basically it reverted to their previous status quo about him going on quests.

The tender moment was then ruined by Salazar who groaned loudly, explaining that if he couldn't 'play with his snake' he might as well act like it.

And that had sent the siblings into another argument because Harry was the one who came up with the Internet rune.

Oh well, at least he was not grounded. But it was decided that he would go to Camp a day later; Percy had called Harry via IM (apparently Sally knew how) to inform him that Percy was going to Camp the next day, and it would be nice to have company. Percy had also petrified his stepfather (quite literally). Harry had told him to burn Medusa's head after that.

* * *

The next day, Harry and Percy had met up at Grand Central, because that is where Percy's mother worked and it would be easier for Percy. Sally had dropped them both to Camp shortly after a really awkward thanking session.

In Camp, Chiron had welcomed them both with much applause.

"Welcome back, heroes! Lord Zeus has informed me about everything! Congratulations to your achievements and may you be true heroes till the very end!"

"Way to bolster up our egos!" Harry grinned at the centaur.

"At least you have not changed..." Chiron said dryly. "Percy, a word please," Chiron took Percy inside the Big House. Harry knew why; it was sort of counselling after the first quest.

But he had bigger problems. Like a black haired, blue eyed, extremely attractive with nice... were they that big or did they grow in the past week? What? He was a teenaged boy. He was allowed to show some perversion. As long as he kept it under control.

Yep, Silena was angry.

"Oh, hey, Silena! I was just–"

SLAP!

"OW!"

"That was for not calling me in the past week!" Silena growled at him.

Ignoring that she looked downright beautiful even when angry, Harry responded with a well thought answer: "Uhhh..."

Well he was confused. A year ago he went to a trip with Rowena to see various Civil War battle sites, and that took about a week and a half, and he had not called Silena during that time either. So why would she be angry with him if he was gone for six days?

Probably because he was constantly in danger, Harry realized. And was that a lilac scented perfume? Her vanilla scented one was better. Harry also realized that she was wearing her hair differently. Before she just let it cascade down in a wavy fashion to her mid back. Now she had made them straight, with a bang on the side of her face.

It looked really good on her.

Silena had also put on a hint of a lipstick. Only if he had enough guts to lean forwards and kiss her... While she was ranting at him.

He was staring, wasn't he?

Harry grunted as Silena suddenly wrapped him in a hug, pressing her slender body against him. He was surprised, yes, but he hugged her back nonetheless.

"I worried you a bit too much, didn't I?" Harry said softly.

"You have no idea," Silena mumbled. She was quite worried, and feared the worst when he didn't return with Annabeth and Grover. She had almost cried when Annabeth told Chiron that Harry had gone to his death before realizing that Harry's influence on the otherwise take-no-nonsense sort of a girl was a bit _too_ much.

And couldn't he at least notice for once that Silena had spent a good 2 hours dolling herself up for him?

"Silena, what happened to your vanilla scented perfume?"

"Nothing, why?" Silena inwardly giggled a bit. He was finally going to admit that –

"Lilac doesn't suit you so much..."

Silena broke free from the hug, and fixed him with a pointed glare. "I spent two... _two_ hours coming up with this get up, and all you say is that lilac doesn't suit me?"

Quick to rectify the situation, Harry replied, "But that hairstyle is awesome!"

Silena thought about her options before replying. One, she could do what her sisters would've done: blush and giggle, and steal a kiss or two. Or, she could play hard to get and hopefully Harry proposes to her romantically.

Option two sounded much better. "Hmph. Its going to take a lot more than that to make me forgive you."

"Like what?"

Before she could reply, they were driven away by Mr. D, who came out of the Big House to... sleep on his chair.

* * *

 _(June 21, 2005, Olympus Throne Room)_

Harry, Annabeth, Percy and Grover stood in front of the 11 Olympians plus Hestia, all of them (including the demigods) dressed up in Ancient Greek clothing. Harry did not know why they were being made to wear such archaic clothing, but he knew if Annabeth wore the same type of clothing in about 3 years, he would not have let her leave the room.

After they had met after the quest, it had taken Harry three days and a shopping 'not-a-date' date to get back in Silena's good graces. Currently, she was moping about the fact that Chiron had not allowed her to go along with the four.

There was also a rising tension between them and Ares's children. Harry, Annabeth and Percy had humiliated the god, and most of them (not counting Clarisse) felt that somehow they were responsible for Ares's punishment.

Harry was getting bored as Zeus dragged on with his speech about how excellently the heroes had done the quest. From the corner of his eye, he could see a beautiful woman with the exact hair and eyes as himself fix him with a disapproving glare.

 _I don't care what you say, mom, but that speech is more monotonous than a NaCl crystal. And more boring than a periodic table reciting session._

 _ **Then at least pretend to be attentive.**_

 _...Or we could talk, right under His nose._

 _ **I think he would notice.**_

 _Nah, he would_ not _expect you of all the gods to break the rules right under his nose. In fact, he is paying more attention to Hermes and Apollo than ourselves._

 _ **...true. I expect you have questions.**_

 _None, actually._

There was a brief pause as Athena took that in. Harry elaborated.

 _You see, the questions have already crossed —_

 _ **My mind and the answers have crossed yours.**_

 _So this is what an intelligent conversation feels like... I hardly get one of those outside my home... And cabin._

 _ **Speaking of which, no, I am not going to add an AI called JARVIS.**_

 _Oh, c'mon! It would be so amazing!_

 _ **Too bad. But get back to Father. He should be rewarding you right about now.**_

"...And thus, these valiant heroes, who have shown Olympus a great deal of honor, loyalty and courage deserve a reward!" Zeus finished his speech dramatically, and the gods applauded half heartedly. Except for Apollo. He had fallen asleep on his throne about five minutes ago.

"I declare that you all can fly in any flight, anytime, without repercussions!"

There was a small pause. But Harry knew not to complain; not many got the chance to be rewarded by Zeus. And fewer got the chance to poke fun at his choice of gifts. Harry also knew not to point out that this god had given a tree of golden apples to a woman he constantly cheated on, and had given them safe flights upon saving his Master Bolt.

Oh well, why bother complaining about something you can't change? So the four of them simply bowed and thanked the god.

"If there is no other thing left, I declare this meeting adjourned," Zeus said, and immediately Hermes, Apollo and Artemis flashed out, either because they were busy, or desperately needed female company. Hephaestus and Aphrodite were next (they went different ways, if it wasn't clear), while Demeter, Hera and Hestia simply walked out.

"A small something that I need to bring to your attention, Lord Zeus," Harry said as the King was about to leave.

"Oh?"

"This pertains to the thief."

Zeus was quite interested, now. Was Harry finally going to tell him the true identity of the bastard who stole his Bolt?

"You see, a theft of this size requires a rather... _crooked_ mind."

"Are you blaming a child of Hermes?"

"Oh no, no, no. Far more older and more crooked."

Zeus's eyes widened as he took in what Harry was implying. He didn't want to believe it. But he also knew that there was no child of Athena's that simply went around placing blames on beings without any genuine reason.

Harry elaborated, "He appeared in my dream, once." Percy muttered a 'mine as well,' causing both of their parents to look at the two in worry, while Zeus was far more interested in what happened.

"He asked me to join him, land a blow to, and I quote, 'the treacherous gods'. I told him to shove his offer up the part that resembles his anus."

Despite the seriousness of the matter, the gods couldn't help but chuckle at that. Except Athena. She simply looked at Harry with a calculative, yet worried, look.

"But if he has the power to invade our dreams, I am pretty sure that he has the power to manipulate a demigod to steal your Bolt. Who knows, the demigod may actually be innocent. He is known as the Crooked One, for a reason."

Zeus was silent as he took this in. "So you think that He wanted to start a war between us?"

"No. This was a message."

Zeus raised a brow. It was Athena who elaborated. "He simply wanted our attention drawn to Him. Which is why, He orchestrated the theft. He never planned to start a war. I assume that even He has to play in accordance to the Great Prophecy."

Zeus was silent for a while. "I thank you for bringing this to my attention. But until further evidence is presented, I declare this matter closed. Dismissed."

With that, he flashed out of the Throne Room. Athena followed, and knowing full well that Poseidon wanted to talk to Percy, the other three quest takers walked out.

* * *

 _(Beginning of July, Rowena's House)_

Harry was bored as switched through channels on the TV. Sirius was beside him. Rowena had let him stay in another apartment that she owned a few blocks away. He was staying with his now German girlfriend, Diane.

"So... How does electricity work here?" Sirius asked.

"After witnessing electricity and magic working along for nearly a week, you ask this now?" Harry raised a brow. Sirius shrugged in response.

"Idiot British wizards believe that they don't mix because of a failed experiment that was supposed to boost the power of a generator. But, they were using a defunct piece, and hence it was bound to fail."

Just as Sirius was about to reply, the door opened, and in walked Rowena with a man in a suit. He had matted brown hair and eyes of the same shade, and a stern look on his face. He was tall, and well built, but had a small, almost unnoticeable slump.

"Sirius," Rowena called out.

"Yes, Lady Rav– I mean Ms. Rivers?" Sirius corrected himself when she glared at him. Harry had stopped on one of the many sports channels, as they were showing an _El Classico._ He was a Barcelona fan, but the match was a rerun of the one that took place in April. It wasn't like he had anything better to do. He had come back from Camp for Sirius's trial in an ICW court.

Which was why the man had come. He was a lawyer.

Harry half-heartedly listened to Rowena as she explained the trial to Sirius. He was being tried in an ICW court as the twelve mundanes that died were International tourists. It was a bare faced lie, yes, and disrespectful to their dead souls, but they needed a reason to prove his innocence in an ICW court without roping in Diane into the matter.

Otherwise Sirius would simply be tried in an ICW court for smuggling himself into the US.

* * *

 _(After the Trial, England)_

The entire magical population of England was in an uproar. The reason? Well:

 _ **SIRIUS BLACK, INNOCENT?**_

 _ **By Nicholas Maybly**_

 _ **That's right, my readers. Just a week ago, Sirius Black was captured in the United States of America and was tried in an ICW court after the British government not only failed to deliver the details of his trial, but also of his incarceration. The results, were quite shocking.**_

 _ **Sirius Black is the godfather of our long lost hero, Harry Potter. Not only that, but he was the decoy for Lord and Lady Potter. The true secret keeper was...**_

The article went on to explain how Peter Pettigrew had faked his death and killed twelve tourists. It also explained that Lord Black would be taking his seat on the Wizengamot starting the next session.

The immediate effect of this development was that Fudge was able to save his seat by declaring that it was Dumbledore's and Crouch's fault, and not his own. He went on to say that it was Dumbledore who suggested that Fudge should get dementors out to search for the now innocent Sirius Black.

But Dumbledore found himself losing his status as Supreme Mugwump of Britain and it was possible that he be voted out as Chief Warlock. But he still had enough supporters to endure the next term at the very least. He did wonder why Sirius went to US of all places, but figured that US provided him asylum after the wizard ran into one of their embassies. A far fetched notion, but the only plausible one according to Dumbledore.

Meanwhile, the Malfoys were worried. Lucius knew that Sirius hated, no, despised him. He also knew how important it was to gain the favour of Sirius Black. He was not only wrongfully imprisoned, but also the godfather of the Potter Heir. This meant that Sirius controlled not only his own seat, but also of the Potter's.

Sirius Black now held four of the eleven Most Ancient and Most Noble seats, if the Potters controlled three (their own along with Peverell and Gryffindor). This made him the most (politically) powerful man in Wizarding Britain.

* * *

Back at Camp, Harry had taken to watching his two suspects, Chris and Luke, with utmost care. Not that the two knew, of course. The couldn't even use the toilet without Harry noticing it. He felt a bit guilty for spying on his friends, yes, but it was necessary.

And for once, he hoped that he was wrong.

He was also worried about the betrayal line from the prophecy. Well, he had been betrayed by Annie when she turned on him and complained to Silena that he hadn't even touched his summer homework.

But he was sure that the prophecy did not mean that.

If the prophecy meant that someone would betray Percy, then Harry had, in a way, done so. How? Well...

 _Flashback to two days after Summer Solstice._

 _"Sup, Becky!" Harry called as he walked in the Forge._

 _Beckendorf didn't even look up at Harry as said in annoyance, "How many times have I told you not to call me that? And when are you going to stop?"_

 _"3422 times, and I'll stop once it stops getting fun. So what you working on? "_

 _" A jetpack," the son of Hephaestus said proudly._

 _Harry looked at the creation with the ever present calculative gaze of a typical child of Athena. "Too straight wings, and exetreme bulk at the centre. The center of gravity will be heavily displaced once, and_ if _it flies. Not to mention, there would be zero maneuverability as the wing design does not account for the Bernoulli Principle."_

 _Beckendorf scowled. "It will fly."_

 _"No. It won't."_

 _"Wanna bet?"_

 _"Ten drachmas. You're on."_

 _"But how do we test it?"_

 _"I know how." Harry grinned._

 _Ten minutes later..._

 _"Is this thing safe?" Percy asked as he was (forcefully) strapped into the jetpack._

 _End flashback._

Percy had been launched backwards and landed in the canoe lake, luckily. But it was quite hilarious and Beckendorf had paid him ten drachmas as well as a punch. But that was betrayal in its loosest possible definition, and definitely not what the prophecy was referring to.

He was brought out of his thoughts by Hedwig, who hooted frantically at him. Harry nodded back, and ran in the opposite direction.

Silena was still hunting him down so she could 'coax' him to complete his homework. Harry knew better; Silena wanted to stop him from using his laziness as a tool and hence he would be forced to do the entire thing rather than find shortcuts to complete it.

And here was the third betrayal. Harry was tripped by Beckendorf, who happened to be there.

"Here he is, Silena!"

"Becky, why?!" Harry groaned. "You Traitor!"

"'Cause you called me Becky. And you dissed my jetpack!" Beckendorf then lost his grin as Hedwig charged at him, trying to attack him kamikaze style. He ran, the angry owl following him with a vengeance. No one hurts the Most Wise Athena's son!

Harry smiled, getting back up on his feet. "Yeah, run ya little traitor!"

A girl clearing her throat made him lose that smile.

"We are doing the homework together."

"Don't I get a say in the matter?"

"Absolutely not. We are meeting at 5 sharp near the lake. And don't play smart by going to the opposite side."

With that, Silena walked off, leaving Harry to wonder why she was angry at him if she had not done her homework herself.

 _She tricked me!_ Harryrealized with a start. _While she had not done her homework, she ensured that by doing it together, I won't slack off... Kinda clever, and I fell for it harder than a tonne of mass dropped on a neutron star._

Harry chuckled _._ That was a trick well played.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Albania, Lord Voldemort rose to his feet in his new body. He had done the necessary ritual ahead of time. It required the blood from one of his enemies, and mudbloods were his enemies.

He stood in the forest, in the middle of his inner circle of Death Eaters. He had a few people to punish for abandoning him and break out his loyal subordinates from Azkaban, but first, he needed to know one thing.

The location of Harry Potter.

After all, the Voice in his dreams did tell him _quite_ a few interesting things about his one and only nemesis. He did not believe any of it, but that was another story altogether.

His mother, a _goddess?_ Please. Lily Potter was a filthy mudblood, and James Potter was even worse: a blood-traitor. Like a goddess would grant them any wish at all.

Voldemort smirked as he crucio'd Goyle just because. He would need to be patient; there was no hurry in taking over the world.

And as if he would let those arrogant wizards who called themselves 'Olympians' stop him.

* * *

 **A/N: Left you guys on a cliffhanger again! Sorry, but I couldn't resist. But this time I have no exams to worry about, so the next chapter would be out quicker.**

 **As to Sirius's pairing, it's not final. I have not even created a personality for Diane, and it was done on a mere whim. If you want him to be paired (if at all) with someone else, please let me know. And while we are on the topic of Sirius, I realize that he has not gotten a lot of screen time this chapter. But he has a major role next major arc.**

 **And yes, the next major arc is the one most of you are anticipating for (I hope): Harry goes to Hogwarts.**

 **On to another concern with the main pairing of Harry/Silena, I am planning a small side arc that goes deeper into their chemistry and Silena's character before they finally get together. This is because Silena has had hardly any screentime, and her personality is not yet well developed for her to be the main female lead.**

 **Hope you enjoyed the double update!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer and Warnings: refer chapter one.**

* * *

 **A/N: Reviews!**

 **monstar315: its like one of those 'same-same, but different, but still same' moments. I needed an excuse to get Harry to Hogwarts, and a triwizard-esque tournament was best.**

 **KrisB-71854: I will admit that the Nara Clan was one of the inspiration for this Harry. About Beacon, I am simply using the name and characters from RWBY, but not any of the themes, like Grimm, semblence, aura, etc. If I use characters, their abilities would be quite similar to their semblence. If I was using the themes from RWBY as well, I would have put it as a warning. I apologize for leading you to believe that this was a crossover with RWBY as well. And no, Rowena's identity is only known to (excluding gods and dead people) Harry, Sirius and Chiron. Not even Annabeth or Silena know who she is. Thanks for the long review!**

 **EnglishKitsune: what if he enjoys it?**

 **Yorae Rasante: I did put up a warning about OoC, but if I took too far, well, I think it's too late to change anything major about Harry's character. To be fair though, there are a LOT of excellent fics out there that changed the MC in ways that they don't even have a single thing in common with the canon MC.**

* * *

Chapter Eleven

* * *

By the canoe lake, Harry let out a bored sigh as he and Silena finally completed their Potions homework. Stupid thing required a thousand word long essay and at least thirty ways in which the potion can be used.

But now, at least according to him, came the fun part.

Their Charms homework was to learn how to conjure water. Well, it was more like a challenge that the Charms professor had given them rather than actual homework. Harry already knew twelve spells that could do so; but Silena didn't know any. Which meant he had to teach her. She was a fast learner, and he wanted to spend as much time with her as possible before dinner, so he knew he had to drag out the lesson. But that was also quite hard; Silena was quite hard to distract once she set her mind on something.

"Would you quit spacing out?" Silena got his attention.

"I don't space out."

"Oh?"

"I get lost in thoughts. Its different."

Her blue eyes regarded him for a few seconds, before deciding that it was better to get on with the matter at hand rather than know the obscure difference between 'spacing out' and 'lost in thoughts'. "Whatever. Teach me a water conjuring spell."

Harry raised a brow. "Well, I suppose you want the extra points..."

"Of course. And you _will_ be showing at least one of your water spells in class for those extra points."

Harry knew it was useless to argue with her. He didn't really need any extra points, and he was too lazy to actually perform spells for extra points. "Fine. To begin with, you know how a conjuration works, right?"

Silena thought about it for a moment. "Well, you imagine an object, and will it into creation, right?"

"That is a rather crude way of putting it, but yes." Harry said, and tried not be distracted as she pouted at him for calling her explanation crude. "For water, or rather for liquids, your imagination should also be fluid. There should be a constant change in how you imagine it. Getting it?"

Silena nodded.

"Then how about we try the most basic: _Aguamenti?"_

"Sure. What's the wand movement?" Silena asked as she took out her wand, made from the wood of a wisteria tree and having a dragon heartstring core.

Harry looked at her in annoyance. "Wand movement does not matter. How do you suppose wandless magic or the same spell through a different channeling medium is cast?"

Silena thought about it. She was not like Harry, able to think about a thousand thoughts at the same time and rethink them three times over within half a minute. Even then, she was much smarter than the average demigod. She did get into Beacon and was in the top 10 ranking after all.

"Hmmm. Oh, right. You can't wave around a staff the same way you wave around a wand!"

Harry nodded. Even Beacon made the same mistake of teaching spells in what Rowena called the 'robotic' way, wherein rather than come up with your own way to cast a spell, you're taught the way the inventor came up with it. So, if the inventor had swished his wand in a particular way, then the same happened while teaching students. The saving grace was Beacon did not pay too much attention to these trivial things; the result was what mattered in the end.

"Now imagine the fluidity of water. Picture it. Mold it," Harry said.

Silena's brow furrowed. She imagined a river, always flowing. With that in mind, she tried to cast the spell. " _Aguamenti!"_

Not even a drop fell out of her wand.

"What did you picture?" Harry asked.

"A river," She replied. "Shouldn't that be enough?"

Harry shook his head. "I told you to 'mold' it, remember? You can't manipulate a river. So, instead of imagining a river or an ocean, picture the flow of water. Just water. Not its surroundings, not its contents, not its volume."

Silena concentrated again, and after a minute or two, tried again. Nothing happened. Not willing to give up yet, she tried again, and again.

"How do I imagine something like that?" She asked after the fifth try. Not that she was giving up, but rather asking for help.

Harry hmm'd. "Close your eyes."

"You better not run away."

Harry pouted. "Don't you trust me?"

"No."

"So cold," Harry said dramatically. He extended two of his fingers, bringing them closer and closer to her face. Silena closed her eyes instinctively as the got too close, and Harry placed his fingers gently on her eyelids.

"There. Now only if I take away my fingers, you'll know that I'm not around."

"You do know that I meant it –"

"Irrespective. Now forget about your surroundings, including myself."

Silena huffed. "What am I doing?"

"Just feel. Look deeper. And most of all, keep quiet."

Silena tried to do what Harry was saying. She did not know what he wanted her to look for. So, she simply kept her eyes shut, and tried to forget that he was touching her. She was also confused as to what he was doing. Harry knew how much she hated to waste time, so it wasn't likely that he was simply doing something for no reason.

That was something they had in common; neither of them did things without rational thought.

After five minutes, Harry asked her if she was able to see something.

Silena did not reply, but she could see a bright light. It was shaped like a sphere, and was blinding even though her eyes were closed.

"I see a bright sphere! Its producing a blinding light!"

Harry took off his fingers from her face, and Silena opened her eyes. "What was that? My magical core?"

"Nice guess. But no. It was not anything important."

"...What?" Silena glared at him.

"But it served its purpose," Harry hastily added.

"Like what?"

"It showed you that you trust me quite well!" Harry grinned, and upon seeing her glare harder, added, "You were able to imagine something you had no idea about. Your mind came up with an image with simple prompts and suggestions that I provided, but you still had no idea what you wanted to see. Get what am I getting at?"

Silena nodded. If she could imagine something that she did not know about, she can definitely imagine the shape of the water. She closed her eyes again, and tried to picture the water.

This time, she imagined water that was in free fall. She could mold it, as she could simply push a part of the liquid away. She could shape it by putting it in a container. And since it was in free fall, it was ever flowing.

With the image in mind, she readied her wand, " _Aguamenti!"_

A stream of water shot out of her wand, dousing the ground in front of her. Harry was in front of her, yes, but he had moved out of her way as she fired the spell. Silena's eyes lit up as she had finally learned the spell. Their Charms professor had claimed that it would require at least 3 days to learn it, but she had done it within 5 minutes. All thanks to the loveable genius who was now beside her.

"See? You could ooof!"

Harry groaned as Silena wrapped him in a bear hug. She was a clingy person, not that Harry minded, but felt that at least she could give a sign that she was about to hug him, so he doesn't get the air in his lungs blown out forcefully. Again, he didn't complain at all once he felt her breasts squeeze against his chest. And hoped to any god/goddess that she would not feel 'little Harry' wake up.

Luckily, she let go just as quickly.

"Now, let's complete the remaining essays."

Harry slumped. He was not getting out of this, was he?

* * *

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," Snape replied. "The Dark Lord has returned."

Dumbledore frowned. Why had Tom accelerated his plans? It was throwing a wrench in Dumbledore's plans. Not to mention, Harry Potter was still no where to be found. "We need to find Harry."

Snape sneered. Like the spoilt Potter brat could do anything. He had such a wonderful time when he learnt that no other Potter would be coming to Hogwarts. "We don't need him."

"But Mr. Longbottom is not ready."

Snape wanted to tear his hair out with frustration. He mentally scoffed. What good was Longbottom, anyways? He was becoming more and more confident than he was, yes, but that was all thanks to the Potions that they were secretly feeding him for the last three to four years. Snape knew full well that it won't matter if they stopped now, but he wanted to know the effects of OD'ing on that potion.

It wasn't recorded before, and now he could be the only one in the world who knew the overdose symptoms of the potion.

 _(Meanwhile in Manhattan, Rowena felt oddly insulted)_

Dumbledore shook his head as Snape expressed his views on Neville, but even he knew that Snape was right to a certain level. "Be as that may, he is the only one who fits the prophecy. Apart from Harry, of course."

Snape mentally scoffed again. As if prophecies were accurate. He was completely ignoring the fact that he used to believe in them, but that was only till Lily got killed because of one. "Do we even know if Potter is alive? We are simply going on your word."

"My runes tell me."

Snape wondered whether the general consensus of Dumbledore being senile was truer than it really was. "Runes can fail. They can even show false outcome."

"Ah, but Hogwarts runes are still intact!"

Snape decided to let it go. Dumbledore was clearly dedicated. No, not dedicated. More like obsessed. Not that he cared; James Potter's spawn could go die and he would not care.

But now there was a huge problem. He had no new information to give to the Dark Lord, and hence he was going to be crucio'd. At least it was better than the killing curse. It meant that Dark Lord still had use of him.

* * *

 _(4 July, 2005)_

Silena looked at herself in the mirror, wondering what else could she do.

She was going to try to confess, and she wanted to look perfect. She had put on as little make up as possible, as she knew Harry liked her natural looks more. But she had worn some eye liner and red lipstick. She had decided to go with a simple blue summer dress for the evening that complemented her eyes and also accentuated her natural womanly curves.

"I don't know why you still go after the same boy," Silena heard Drew as she entered the dressing room. "I mean, you could easily break the heart of every guy here!"

Silena scowled. "Unlike you, I know the difference between lust and love. So, keep holding on to your silly belief until you yourself are in love."

Drew also scowled, "Don't tell me what love is, sister. Our mother is the goddess of love, or have you forgotten?"

"Are you implying that you would know all that there is to 'love' just because of who mother is? Just shows how ignorant you are." Silena could see why Harry didn't like Drew. And it was not because she constantly hit on him.

"Whatever," Drew drawled. "Don't come crying because he didn't show. Just like last year."

Silena wanted to point out that Harry's arm was broken and he was resting, quite obviously, but instead replied with, "I have complete faith in him."

And besides, it was not like he forgot about today, right?

* * *

Inside the Athena Cabin's basement, which was filled with books, books and even more books that made it every Athena camper's dream come true, sat Harry in front of the giant white board. This was also the place where Athena cabin members could think and work in complete privacy and peace.

Which was why the basement was called _Think Tank_.

Harry twirled two markers in his hand as he cast a calculative gaze on the complicated math that covered the entire board. He had been working on this from last night, and had only come out today morning. After lunch, he had come down here again, and began to work on his project.

And he was at odds end.

He could perhaps —

"Its 6:30!" Malcolm yelled as he came down in the Think Tank. "We need to be out there for the fireworks!"

Harry didn't acknowledge his brother at first, but said, "Malcolm, what should I do here?"

Malcolm blinked. "That looks like a... probability model?"

Harry nodded and turned to Malcolm, a crazed look in his eyes. "If I do this right, I will know exactly when to perform a single soft reset so all the Legendary Pokémon will turn shiny!"

Malcolm blinked again. Then he pointed at the second line. "Hey! 1576 times 6564 divided by 5648 is... is.. Uh.."

"1831.59 and not 1381.95 ...dammit. But how did you know that the calculation was wrong when you yourself couldn't do it?"

"Eh, I couldn't do the division in time..."

Harry nodded again. "At least this way I can finally complete this blasted thing!"

"Yeah about that. The fireworks will begin shortly."

It was Harry's turn to blink. "But its 3:30!"

"No, its 6:35, now."

Harry looked at his brother disbelievingly. "But it was like 3:30 a minute ago!" Then it dawned on him a very, very important fact that he had missed.

Why had Malcolm come to remind him? It was always Annabeth.

"Where's Annie?"

"She something about having a plan, so she left."

"With whom?" Harry asked, glaring at Malcolm.

Malcolm sweated a bit. "She didn't say, but Lyra heard a rumor about her and Percy..."

"Malcolm, that's ridiculous. Annie liking Percy!"

"It was the other way around."

"Oh. Wait. Commence operation Theta-Elipson effective immediately."

"You want us, as in any Athena camper, to kick Percy in the balls on sight?" Malcolm asked incredulously.

Harry hmmm'd. "You're right... not harsh enough. Commence Zeta-Gamma-Omega instead."

Malcolm didn't feel the need to point out that shooting Percy in the balls with an arrow was a bit too much. But he did feel the need to point out that they were getting late.

Harry then realized the other, much more significantly important thing he had missed.

"Oh, shit! I promised Silena to meet her... Fifteen minutes ago. Uhh.. Malcolm, two feet behind and three feet across. There is a book with an experimental rune that can reverse time by 30 minutes! Find it quick!"

Malcolm looked on as Harry began to fear for his life. "No, wait! The side effect could potentially rip open the space-time continuum and cause a black hole!"

"Then go and get ready!"

"Excellent idea. You keep her busy. Ensure that she doesn't realize what time it is... No, she would notice," Harry rambled as he ran upstairs.

Behind him, Malcolm sighed. Why did his brother turn into... whatever that was when it involved women?

* * *

Harry, who had gotten dressed in blue jeans and a red t-shirt with black highlights as quickly as possible, ran to the usual spot where he and Silena usually sat. He had to run back to his cabin though; he had forgotten to take Aphrodite's scarf. He had not experimented on it, but he was more than tempted to.

Their spot was at a slightly higher ground than the place where most campers sat, so it gave an excellent view of everything.

Luckily for him, Silena had not shown up yet, so he was safe.

After getting two glasses of some coke as it was being passed around by a dryad, he sat down on the grass, waiting for her to show up. Silena was the one who brought the picnic blanket, as Annabeth would almost always take the only one that Athena cabin had. Not that Harry minded.

"Hey," he heard her voice from behind, "hope I wasn't too late..."

Harry turned, and if he didn't possess an incredible amount of mental strength, his jaw would have fallen to the ground at how beautiful Silena looked. Sure, she had gone with a simple look, but Harry loved simplicity. Or rather, simplicity according to a child of Athena.

But Silena was looking quite gorgeous in the blue summer dress and black heels, and her eyes that were painstakingly lined with just the right amount of eyeliner to make them more beautiful than they were. And those ruby red lips... He could go on, but his rational mind pushed his lusty part of his mind behind, and finally came up with the right words: "Uhh.. Hey.. And no, I just got here."

Silena sat down besides him, and took the coke glass out of his hands, purposely caressing them softly. She inwardly smirked when Harry repressed a shiver. She knew that she had the eyes of nearly every guy present on her, excluding the nine year old Benjamin and an eleven year old undetermined Jeff. She didn't particularly care about any of the stares (though she inwardly laughed a bit when Drew's date, Lee, was looking at her more than Drew).

No, she was a lot more elated that she had Harry's 100% attention on her. He was even ignoring Percy and Annabeth sitting together. Silena found it a little exciting; the love triangle between Percy, Annabeth and Luke. And, yes, she inherited even her mother's love for drama.

When the fireworks started, she leaned on Harry's shoulder, resting her head on the shoulder. Harry was a bit confused at her actions, but didn't say anything. Instead, he wrapped his arm around her, bringing her closer. He knew not why he did so, but he was not complaining when it was Silena's turn to repress a shiver. She did blush, though.

 _(Meanwhile on Olympus, a certain goddess grinned to herself.)_

Both of them had forgotten about the world as they looked into each other's eyes. Clear blue met a stormy gray that was tinged with green. Their faces inched closer, and closer.

 _This is it! He's going to kiss me!_ Silena thought with glee.

 _I am going to kiss her,_ Harry thought, also wondering if he was just supposed to press his lips against hers or also wrap his arms around her neck and bring her close. Or was that action only reserved for –

His thoughts were interrupted by a jolt of electricity that suddenly travelled up his spine. He felt something soft press against his mouth, and it took him a moment to realize that Silena was kissing him. Reacting quickly, he kissed her back, oddly aware of her hand on his cheek.

They were also ignorant of the entire camp witnessing their kiss, and of the few catcalls from the more rowdy campers.

As the two of them separated from the kiss that felt so good, so passionate and just so... right, they simply kept looking into each other's eyes in silence.

Harry broke the silence. "So, does this mean that we're..."

"Yes, it does." Silena said with a smile.

Harry smiled back. This was perfect!

* * *

 _(1st August, 2005)_

Percy was immensely confused. Why had Luke decided to tell him everything? Well, he did sound like a very cliche villain, and Percy knew that he was going to try to kill him.

But he wasn't ready for a small pit scorpion to be the weapon of choice.

Not that it mattered, because when that scorpion jumped from Luke's hands to his, it was vaporized in mid air, and another red bolt hit Luke square in the chest, causing the son of Hermes to crumple to his feet.

"I. Hate. Arachnids." Harry said as he walked towards Percy.

"Were you–"

"Yes."

"Did you–"

"All of it."

"Can you–"

"Not going to stop predicting your questions and answer them. Now help me carry him."

Later, in the infirmary, Luke was handcuffed to the bed, where he lay in stasis, being put in such a situation by Harry. He had already made the connection that Kronos was controlling Luke. It had originally been Silena's idea – she had wondered how charmspeak worked, and she had herself come up with the power of suggestions. Harry then thought that Kronos may have done the same. So, not really controlling Luke, but rather controlling his actions.

If that made sense. To be fair, he was kind of distracted. Silena always seemed far more desirable whenever she said something he never would have thought of. Yet.

Harry also knew that the Titan had an insider on Olympus. Someone who was able to keep every minor and major god from noticing the theft. Possibly Ares, but he lacked the patience required for such a thing. But there were minor gods, who could pull it off. For example, Morpheus. As the god of dreams, he also had power over illusions. He could have placed whoever came around the Bolt and the Helm into an illusion.

And, being a god, he could place every demigod at the very least into an illusion without them ever noticing. But how did he fool Hestia? May be there were more than one minor god involved. Together, they could have foiled the eldest goddess.

He was merely speculating, of course.

"Percy told me everything," Harry heard Chiron as he trotted over. "And while I admit that the Crooked One could be controlling poor Luke, I am not convinced that Luke was entirely acting outside his –

"You think Luke may have done this because of his bitterness towards his father."

"And you don't?"

"No. Being bitter holds you down. It never strengthens you. Love, on the other hand, is far more powerful a motivator."

Chiron thought Harry's words over. Like always, it was hard to argue with him. The entire Camp knew that Luke spent a lot of time near the Pine Tree.

"The Lord of Time, could have planted mere suggestions in his mind. Quite possibly it all began two years ago. When the other two quest takers–" Harry trailed off. The tragic quest was a bitter reminder to him as well, despite not having been a part of it. Sure, he joked about it and never let it affect him much, but that didn't mean that he had forgotten.

Chiron's gaze softened. "It's fine, child. But perhaps you are correct. He did leave to the Garden of Hespireds. If memory serves, Atlas is imprisoned near to it. But the Titan of Endurance is not as manipulative as the Titan of Time. But we shall think about it later. Are you not going to wake Luke up?"

"Horrible idea. If I wake him up, and we find out that he was being controlled, then the Lord of Time would plague him with nightmares to drive him crazy. If he was not being controlled,he'll probably find a way out. He is a child of Hermes. You know more than anyone that you can't really lock them up. Ever."

Chiron grimaced. "Yes... There was even one who broke out of Punishment. He ironically fell into Tartarus."

"Why'd he go to Punishment?"

"...he stole Persephone's clothes."

"... If I didn't know better, I would have claimed you were talking about Salazar."

"Back to the topic. You were saying that the Crooked One would plague his mind with nightmares, causing him to go crazy and either kill everyone or himself. But I have full faith in your abilities to prevent this." Chiron tried to cheer Harry up.

"You have dark thoughts for a centaur... And no, I don't think I can do anything. I don't know how to stop a fudging titan from entering your mind," Harry replied. "But I think I know who can."

Chiron seemed to think about it. "If you are referring to Rowena, she is quite busy, I am sure."

Harry shook his head. Like hell ge wanted his sister to visit. She would kill him for not informing her that he now had a girlfriend. Or if she found out that he still skipped classes. Or the level of untidiness in the Athena Cabin.

"I was referring to Merlin. He sealed away a titan while being a demigod. He might be able to shield off Luke's mind."

Chiron sighed, "That might be a little bit hard."

* * *

Three days later, they had finally gotten Merlin's help to shield off Luke's mind. Even if he did the crime of his own volition, he at the very least would be safe from mental attacks. And this is where they were now, with Luke having just woken up.

"We had a trip to Olympus? Why don't I remember that?" Luke asked confusedly.

"Well, your idea of shielding him was to wipe his memory?" Harry asked the minor god of magic.

"That wasn't me! I simply created a large occulumency shield that strengthens with any legillemency attack. Even from gods or titans. It works by that rune on his neck." Merlin defended himself.

"Who are you? And why am I cuffed?"

Merlin, Chiron and Harry sighed, and explained everything. Luke was even more confused than ever. Why would he steal the Master Bolt? If anything, he would have stolen the Caduceus. And rubbed it in his father's face. Literally. Luke knew that if he pulled it off, he would be the first one to do so.

 _(Meanwhile in Rowena's house, Salazar wondered if it was some hot woman who was talking about him)_

It was then that Mr. D came in, and informed them that Luke, despite the fact that he is most likely innocent, is still supposed to be in Olympus and await judgement. The wine god then promptly whisked Luke away.

Harry sighed, "I am leaving. Bye!"

* * *

In the forest that surrounded most of the Camp, Harry and Silena were sitting together in Harry's usual spot. Before they had started dating, Harry was the only one who came here. It was nothing special, just a clearing in the forest that had natural rock formations resembling chairs and tables. That is, if you considered the chairs to be as low as the middle of your shins and the table to be a large, flat slab of rock that was just a few inches above ground level.

Before, Harry came here to think if the Athena Cabin Basement was being used by someone else, or when he needed fresh air to think, or both. Now, it had become their getaway spot, where they could talk and spend some quality time with each other.

Of course, that was Harry's plan as this was first time Silena was here.

"You know, when you said that you had a secret place in the forest that you wanted to show me, I assumed something more aesthetically pleasing."

"The only flower-filled area in here is taken up by the Satyrs. So, nothing else is here like the way you want," Harry replied.

Silena got up. "Then let's go hunt for one! I bet there are many places here that you are not aware of."

Harry sighed, "Do we have to?" why couldn't they simply sit and talk? Walking and talking took more energy.

Silena glared at him. "This is the closest thing that I have ever gotten as a date in the past month we've been together. So by the gods don't ruin it."

Harry sighed again. He wanted to point out that there were plenty of times when they were out together that could be classified as a date. But he got up to his feet, "Lead the way..." He knew pointing it out would annoy her. Sometimes she got angry at him for no reason.

Silena began to walk in a random direction. Harry followed.

"Have you wondered what would happen to Luke? He's been gone a hour now."

Harry looked at Silena confusedly. "How the hell do you know about it so quickly? And didn't you tell me not to ruin the date?"

Silena looked sheepish as she slipped her hand in his. "Sorry, but he is our friend..."

Harry didn't want to talk about another guy with his girlfriend (who was not her brother/cousin/father). While it was a bit disheartening, but he knew she was just worried about their friend.

"Don't know. He was genuinely confused when he woke up. Percy took it the hardest, but Luke tried to kill him. I imagine that if she knows, Annie is probably–"

"She is not crying, and I am pretty sure she could do without her big brother for a while." Silena said. She knew how Harry got; he would run back to Annabeth and would do anything in his power to cheer her up. This was one of the many traits of his that attracted her to him.

"But what if she wallows in sadness and goes into depression and leaves behind a husk of her former self?" Harry asked.

Silena gave him a 'are you serious' sort of a look, "You really need to stop thinking of the worst case scenario every time."

"And the possibility of that is 1 in 3,023,677! Huh. Never mind."

Silena looked at Harry incredulously. Did he calculate the probability within seconds, again? It was like that time when they went to the Mets vs Sox game about three months ago. Predicting whether it was a homerun or not was fun the first two times, but it got out of hand when he even predicted the place the ball was going to fall after the batter had hit it.

"See? Annabeth is a strong girl. She can take care of herself."

"I suppose..."

"So, let's enjoy a nice walk, all by ourselves, and forget about the world outside." Silena said with a smile.

Harry smiled back, "Yeah. Sounds good to me."

* * *

"I keep telling you, I don't know!" Luke yelled.

Zeus glared at him, as did most of Olympians. Artemis was absent, and Apollo was fast asleep. Hermes was deep in thought, wondering how he would get his son out of the situation.

"So, you know not, that you took the Master Bolt, and tried to start a war?"

"Yes!"

"We have a confession, Luke Castellan, and I for one am not going to be fooled by your deception. Agree to your crimes now, and we will consider that you won't be thrown in Tartarus," Zeus bellowed. "Or do you have any one to speak in your defense?"

Hermes perked up. "Why not get Athena's son here? He did say that Luke was being controlled. I think we should listen to him."

Athena glared at Hermes. "Don't bring my son into this. While I am sure that he had a very good reason to believe that Luke was being controlled, one cannot ignore the fact that these two were friends for years. Of course he would want to protect him."

Hermes didn't cower away. "But we can not ignore the possibility!"

Luke was confused. Why was his father defending him? He hated Hermes. Hermes knew he did. Weren't gods extremely selfish and didn't care about their children? And here were two of them that were protecting their own. It went everything that he had been told by... By... Who had told him that? Why couldn't he remember?

"Hermes, I understand that you want to defend your son. But he confessed." Zeus cut in. He wanted to get this done with.

"Father, please. You are the god of justice as well. Would it be so hard so as to not ignore the possibility and give Luke a fair trail? That would be justice."

Zeus swore under his breath. Why did Hermes possess such a silver tongue? "Very well. Hermes. Bring the son of Athena here."

Athena started, "Father, you can't possibly –"

"Athena, be quiet. Your son is a witness." Zeus replied as Hermes flashed out.

A second later, Hermes came back, with Harry in tow. Or to be precise, in a towel. Yep. Only a towel covering his goods. He was confused when Hermes flashed in the bath. Harry had a nice, relaxing walk with Silena, and they decided to head back. As he was sweaty, he hit the shower.

He had just the time left to grab a towel as Hermes came and took him with him.

"Why are you dressed like that?" Zeus asked.

"I had just the time to pick up a towel when this guy," Harry pointed to Hermes, "showed up as I was in the shower, and flashed me here without any explanation."

Hermes looked sheepish.

"Such a shame," Aphrodite said as she ogled Harry's toned and muscular form. And she knew her daughter was in for a treat once they got to THAT stage. Harry blushed at the words, and felt himself harden at just her voice. He wondered what would happen if he looked at her. "Why don't you do me a favor and take it off? I would be... _delighted."_

Harry's hands trembled as they went to his towel. He wanted to stop himself (he considered this to be cheating on Silena, after all), but this was Aphrodite's charmspeak. He didn't know if he could.

Athena snapped her fingers as she glared at Aphrodite. "Stop trying to molest my son with your eyes, Aphrodite." As she said so, Harry's clothing changed to blue jeans and a camp T-shirt. Wait. Why wasn't any underwear provided? "Thanks, mother," he said anyways. His head was cleared from Aphrodite's magic.

Zeus slammed his feet. "If we are done with the lollygagging. I would like to get back on track. You, Harry, was it? Explain to me why you think Luke was being forced to steal my Bolt."

Harry sighed. This was going to be a looong evening. And he promised to help Ben with his homework this night... He didn't want to be on the receiving side of Benjamin's 'you have failed me' stare. Why did he possess such an incredible weapon that could even bend Chiron's will?

About half an hour later, Harry and Luke walked out of Olympus. Luke wasn't let off scott-free, but was confined to the Camp henceforth. He was also on probation. He was also fired from his counsellor duties.

Harry was still laughing about that one.

Either way, Luke was thankful to Harry nonetheless. And he needed to apologize to Percy and Grover. Possibly Annabeth as well.

Then Luke realized something.

The Stolls were incharge of Hermes Cabin.

He wondered if he could somehow stay somewhere else, as he would be the Stolls' favorite target. Luke couldn't retaliate, as Hermes Cabin Rule One was never steal/prank from the Cabin Counsellor. That was the only rule they had.

* * *

 _(Malfoy Manor)_

Voldemort gazed at the assembled Death Eaters.

"You know what to do. Wait for the Final to end. Then strike. I want at least a dozen blood traitors and mudbloods dead. Make sure that you wait for the foreigners to leave."

"My Lord," Yaxley said, "I mean no disrespect, but why wait?"

Voldemort glared at Yaxley. "Did you question my wisdom?"

Yaxley gulped. "N-No, My Lord."

Voldemort knew full well that the Death Eaters would find fierce resistance from non-British wizards. They weren't stupid that they would run at the sight of seven Death Eaters when they could easily overpower the Death Eaters with magic and sheer numbers. But unfortunately, his followers were idiots. The only silver lining was that they were quite afraid of him.

"Then be silent and do as I say. This will be an excellent time to spread the message that I, the great Lord Voldemort, am still around!"

* * *

 **A/N: So, Harry and Silena finally got together. Sorry if it felt thrown together just like that, but I suppose if I dragged it for too long, it would have been equally bad. So, I made it look like Aphrodite had to do something with it.**

 **On the other hand, just a chapter away from Hogwarts!**

 **Also, sorry for the delay. There were a few problems with the internet here for a few days, so I couldn't log in. And the fact that I needed to get a few plot ideas together.**

 **Hope you enjoyed!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer and warnings: refer Chapter One. An extra warning, though. Some parts of this chapter had me thinking about the fic's rating (whether I should change it to M). Depending on what most people would say, I will change it.**

* * *

Chapter Twelve

* * *

 _(Hogwarts Castle, 13 August 2005)_

Dumbledore was in an extremely good mood. The Magical Academies that were visiting had sent the names of the students that were coming. One particular Beacon Academy had a student named 'Hadrian Potter.'

Dumbledore could barely contain his glee. Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, was coming back. Now all he had to do was to obliviate the boy, rewrite his memories and he would be under his thumb! His plans would proceed as planned!

Dumbledore was brought out of his happiness when the wards alerted him of a man approaching. He allowed the man to enter.

"Ah, Sirius! What do I owe you the pleasure?" Dumbledore said as the man walked in his office.

"Let's save the idle chit chat later, professor. I am sure, you must have heard, but Voldemort is on the move."

Dumbledore's eyes lost their twinkle. "How do you know?"

"I have my sources," Sirius replied.

Dumbledore frowned for a split second before his expression changed to its usual serenity. He hated that Sirius Black was out of prison. Now it would be much more difficult to control Harry Potter once he shows up. But Dumbledore knew it was political suicide to get on Sirius's bad side, so he let it slide.

"We need to re-establish the Order, Professor Dumbledore." Sirius said.

Dumbledore heaved a sigh. Looks like Sirius was not too much into the dark like Dumbledore assumed. He could still be used. No, Dumbledore decided, Sirius should be used. How else would he attain the Greater Good? How else would every knowledge pertaining to magic be his and his alone? But he needed to do so discreetly.

"That might be hard, Sirius. No one would believe that he's back."

"Not unless you tell them yourself."

Dumbledore stroked his beard. "Yes. I suppose you are correct. But our previous HQ was destroyed."

Sirius smirked. He placed a parchment on Dumbledore's desk."We could have the new HQ here."

Dumbledore opened the parchment.

 _No. 12, Grimmauld Place_

"The place is under a fidelius."

"Yes, professor. The secret keeper is... Well, I'd tell you that, but after those 12 years, I have trouble trusting people. So maybe another time."

Dumbledore frowned inwardly. "Of course, Sirius. But I can be trusted. You know that."

Sirius nodded, "I may trust you. But I don't necessarily want to share such information. I must take my leave. Good day, professor." With that, Sirius walked out, not caring for the glare sent his way by the aged headmaster.

Later that day, in the Hog's Head, Sirius met up with another man.

"He took the bait. Now all we have to do is to get my godson here."

* * *

 _(Rowena's house, 14 August 2005)_

Harry and Silena sat across from Rowena and Edward. When they were called to meet up with them, both of them had thought that their relationship was no longer a secret. But it turned out that their wards had simply called them because Sirius Black had gotten three tickets to the Quidditch World Cup Final. Originally they were supposed to be for him, Harry and Rowena, but Rowena had declined.

Harry wasn't much into the sport, which he felt was highly illogical. The seeker was the only player that truly mattered. And there was no rule that said what to do if either Seeker falls before catching the Snitch. Not only that, but your side could just sit by, let the other side shoot a maximum of fourteen times, then catch the snitch. Your team would win. By doing nothing.

While Harry had no love for Quidditch, Silena did. She was not obsessed, but her enjoyment of the sport came quite close. So, while Harry wasn't exactly excited about the Final, Silena was. She knew that Ireland would most likely win – Bulgaria had awful Chasers, Keepers and Beaters. It was Krum that pulled them to the Finals. Something she would never say around Harry (even the boy most likely knew; he knew everything). It would only re-affirm his belief that Seeker was the only one that mattered most.

"We will go," Silena said.

"Don't I–"

"We. Will. Go."

Rowena and Edward exchanged glances. The exchange had happened so many times in the past that it wasn't funny anymore. Edward almost pitied the boy. He had dated Silena's mother, and she was very hard to please. Not to mention, she had him wrapped around her finger in the first five minutes. Of course, he _almost_ pitied Harry. He was dating his baby girl after all. But how to dissuade her from going so far away from his, as in Edward's protection?

Rowena, on the other hand, pitied Silena for falling for her brother. If he was serious about anything, he was just like a male version of their mother. She suspected that Harry fell for Silena because of this reason. Silena was very smart. Not like Harry, but she excelled in things Harry couldn't.

Like the first time they had met when both were seven. Harry had changed schools, and she was his classmate. While Harry excelled in the more academic subjects, Silena was the one who showed him the wonders of friendship and why forming bonds was important. Harry was a very quite kid back then, with almost no friends, but Rowena was delighted when he wouldn't stop talking about his new and first friend.

He was so adorable back then...

Snapping herself out of her memories, Rowena addressed the younger demigods. "Seems like you have made your decision. I shall allow you."

Edward looked at Rowena. "Anastasia, you have no say whether Silena can go or not!"

Silena fixed her father with a cross look. Edward gulped." Of course, I will allow you, dear! I am simply worried about you!"

Silena's gaze softened. "Don't worry, daddy. Harry will protect me!"

Harry, who was lost in thought, thinking about how he was going to re-route the WiFi in the Big House so that Cabin Six can also get WiFi (his requests to his mother had went unanswered), sat up, "I will? I mean of course I will!" Harry said.

"Not exactly counting on it," Edward mumbled under his breath as the two ladies in the house glared at Harry, who sunk into himself.

* * *

"This is our place!" Sirius said excitedly as he, Harry and Silena walked to the lot provided to them. There were tents everywhere, and wizards and witches all roaming around the place.

Harry wondered why they were given a spot for a tent, but realized that the British wizards and witches were staying the night. He and Silena had arrived by portkey that Rowena had created (The Beauregards believed she had acquired it through her ICW connections). They were also provided with an emergency portkey each, that would take them back to Rowena's house. Both the emergency portkeys (in the form of identical rings that they were wearing on their middle fingers) were designed to break all anti-portkey wards, courtesy of Rowena's very own rune developed for such an occasion. Of course, thede portkeys also served as their way home.

Of course, the second part of Harry's displeasure (the first being that he was dragged here) came when Sirius began to manually set up the tent. He explained to the demigods that they were on muggle grounds, and hence needed to do this the old fashioned way.

"Firstly, muggle is an insult. The correct term is non magical or mundane. Second, move aside." Harry took out his wand.

"Didn't you hear what your godfather–"

Harry erected the tent.

"said. Never mind." Silena huffed. Why did her boyfriend like to throw the rules out of the window?

"Hey!" Sirius yelled, though he did not seem too angry about it. "Only I can break the rules!"

Silena facepalmed. Yep. That was totally Harry's godfather.

Harry didn't respond, and simply went in. Silena frowned, knowing full well that he had gone in there to sleep. "Oh no you don't! We're going out and exploring!"

Sirius grinned as Silena dragged his godson away, reminding him to 'play safe..' and laughing as Harry turned stark red. Then he went inside the tent, already making comparison between James's and Lily's relationship and that of Harry and Silena.

Both the males were completely whipped by the first three weeks.

* * *

After spending a lot of time just roaming about, Harry and Silena had come across many, many odd people. They were heading back, now.

One was a Hogwarts student by the name of Zacharias Smith. He was an extremely arrogant boy, and Harry had almost laughed out loud at his introduction: "I am Zacharias Smith. Descendent of Helga Hufflepuff." Now, Harry didn't know what became of Helga's descendants after the 1400's (Rowena had kept a close eye on her friends' families), as the last one who could prove that he had Hufflepuff blood in him died without producing a heir.

Harry had driven Silena away from Zacharias barely a second later when he realized that he had only added the 'descendant of Hufflepuff' to impress Silena. Not counting her father and brothers, Harry was the only man who was allowed to impress Silena.

Not that she was impressed by the British wizard, but Harry didn't care.

They had also run into another boy (named Nicholas Ravenwood), also from Hogwarts, who claimed to be Rowena's descendant. Harry had to bite his cheek in order to stop himself from laughing after that. Hearing someone to be his sister's descendant...

It didn't help that Silena was giving him odd looks as a few snickers escaped his lips.

Now he just needed to meet someone claiming to be a Gryffindor and someone claiming to be a Slytherin. It had taken him, however, a lot of will power to not correct them. He would have a hard time covering his bases with Silena when she would question him about how he knew things that no one should have possibly known.

Thanks to many events such as the Gryffindor line getting assimilated into the Potters and the last known Hufflepuff dying before he could reproduce, coupled with the fact that (publicly believed) Ravenclaw and Slytherin lines being extinct, information on the Founders' descendants was very scarce. Harry would have to make up a plausible excuse as to why he knew all of this information without blowing his sister's cover. He could do that, but he didn't particularly like lying to Silena despite him doing so in the past. Did it make him a hypocrite? Yes, but it was never too late to improve.

The two of them had also run into redheaded twins that tried to sell them something called a 'Canary Cream' or something along those lines. Silena had declined and they had moved on without much incident.

Of course, Harry had provided each of these guys with a pseudonym, Luke Solo. No one had caught on with the obvious reference.

Finally, they had reached their own tent where Sirius was waiting for them.

"Finally. We have fifteen minutes to make it to the stadium." Sirius ushered the two demigods towards the stadium.

Sirius had ensured that they had the best seats in the stadium, which worked quite well for Silena and not so well for Harry. Sirius was surprised to know that Harry didn't like Quidditch, given that James played the sport quite well and was a huge fan of it, but it seemed that Harry took after his mother (or was that mothers?) more than his father.

Of course, Harry was also annoyed that he was sharing the same general area as those two idiot boys who claimed to be the Founders' descendants. They'd used the 'heir to Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw' line again on Silena, just to see if she would leave Harry.

They were oddly quiet after she told them off with, "Sorry, but I only date guys who can stand up for their own accomplishments, and certainly not the type who are riding off the glory of long gone legends."

Harry had half a mind to take her shopping again. Key term here was 'half a mind'.

But the two British wizards were persistent, and Harry had snapped this time. He didn't say anything to them, but rather put them in a Mist-induced illusion that made them run away.

"Thanks," she whispered, as the match began.

"You could have saved your girlfriend from the start," Sirius piped up from behind the two.

"You say as if she is a damsel in distress who needs saving. Quite frankly, I was saving them," Harry replied. Silena smirked, Harry knew she would have pulled out her knife if the two had stayed for even a second. While the Celestial Bronze blade would not hurt them, it could scare them. And she knew from experience that if she were to stab their goods, it would cause a of phantom pain.

Or, if that didn't work, she was going to use her charmspeak to make them jump on the veela cheerleaders. Then laugh as they would get burned by the Veela.

* * *

The Final was over, resulting in Ireland's victory. It was one of the only match Harry had seen where the snitch didn't make a difference, which reinforced his belief that it was a useless item. If it did make a difference between winning and losing, then it was the only thing that mattered. If it doesn't, why have a small object be the deciding factor that ended the game rather than a time limit?

They had also met the high profile wizards like Lucius Malfoy (whom Sirius claimed was a complete dick) and Minister Fudge. Harry had been introduced as 'Jack Rivers' and Silena with her own name. She had no reason to go undercover. The two politicians were fed a story that Jack and his sister, Anastasia, had helped Sirius in the US, and hence he had got him and his girlfriend here as a thank you gift.

Which was the truth, if you ignored the pseudonyms.

They had come back to their tent, barely stayed for five minutes, before all hell broke loose outside when some people attacked.

"Both of you, activate your emergency portkeys, now," Sirius ordered his two charges, but both just ran out towards the fire created by the attackers. "Sorry, Sirius, but demigods are heroes, and not just in title!" he heard his godson yell.

"Lady Ravenclaw is going to kill me," Sirius muttered to himself, before running after them.

Harry and Silena caught up to the attackers. They had not noticed the two demigods, yet. Harry counted seven cloaked figures. _Maybe there was a backup unit somewhere?_ He thought to himself. Surely no one was that foolish to attack a place filled with over a hundred mages with just seven people. Unless they were experts at stealth. Except these guys weren't hiding at all. They were completely ignoring their surroundings, as one guy stumbled into his partner.

Something told Harry this was not a co-ordinated attack. These men possessed zero strategy, and were assuming that no one would attack them. They were relying too much on fear tactics. That would work only to a certain level.

As Harry began formulating their own attack strategy, the seven suddenly stopped, yelled, and ran back.

Harry and Silena were confused, the later asking whether it was something he did. Harry shook his head no. Then they spotted a small figure coming towards them.

It was a boy, probably twelve years or so, with brown hair and dark green eyes. Both of them recognized who he was instantly.

"Alabaster?" Harry called out.

Alabaster turned. "Hey," he waved. The son of Hecate, who could be seen quite rarely at Camp, was standing there casually. "Sup!"

Harry sighed. He knew Alabaster as he visited Rowena quite often to take lessons. He wasn't the only child of Hecate in the States to do so; Lou Ellen came by sometimes as well. Alabaster's visits were more common, though. He was an orphan and Hecate had asked Rowena to look after him (if she could) outside Camp.

Rowena was keeping an eye on him through Beacon's teachers, as Alabaster was one of the students who stayed in the school's dorms.

"What did you do?" Harry asked him.

"Showed them an illusion that depicted a Cerberus with lava flowing from its mouth and fire burning in its eyes. And then it began to spew hot lava all over the place. Did I mention that its claws were soaked in blood?"

Harry and Silena stared at the young boy for a few seconds. Harry knew that Alabaster possessed a powerful core – more so than his own – due to him being Hecate's son, and also he had a much better control over Mist than Harry.

"More importantly, what are you doing here?" Harry asked his uncle. It felt weird having an uncle three years younger than him.

"Eh, teleported here to see the match."

No one questioned as to how he got in without any ticket, because it was obvious he used the Mist. Neither of them even cared that he had teleported across an entire ocean.

Sirius's animagus form caught up with them, immediately transforming back to human.

"What's going on? Who's the kid?"

* * *

" _Crucio,"_ Voldemort pointedhis wand at Lucius Malfoy. The man was on the ground, writhing in agony as pain coursed through his very being. "Care to repeat, Lucius?"

"I am speaking... The... The truth," Lucius shivered. "A giant... Giant Cer...cer...Cerberus appea—"

"Appeared out of nowhere that had lava dripping out from its maw and fire in its eyes. Yes. Absolutely! Absurd!" Voldemort finished for the Death Eater who was in pain. "I tell you to one. _ONE!_ Job! But there wasn't even my mark floating in the sky! In fact, everyone believes that it was some wannabe!"

Voldemort took deep breaths to calm himself. "But there is still use of you, Lucius. Which is why I won't kill you yet. I hope you have something good for me by the next week on the Ministry front. Or young Draco will end up taking control of the Malfoy name and line."

Lucius gulped, "Of course, Milord."

* * *

 _(Beacon Academy, 25 September 2005)_

Harry, Silena and three other Beacon students, Weiss Schnee, Yang Xiao Long, and Sun Wukong were gathered in the Principal's office.

Weiss, who had white hair and light blue eyes and had a pale complexion, was an expert in runes. She was the younger of two daughters of the Founder and CEO of the Schnee Company, a worldwide industry that was dealing in energy resources.

Yang, despite the Chinese name, was not in fact Chinese. She had lilac eyes and waist-length blond hair, with an impressive figure. She had a rather playful personality, and loved to make puns and silly jokes.

Sun Wukong was a tall blond haired boy with dark gray eyes. He was named after his great-grandfather, who was Chinese. Despite his laid back attitude and a love for rule-breaking, Sun was still one of the more powerful person in class.

"You must be wondering why have I called the five of you here," Ozpin said, taking a sip from his ever present cup.

"If this is about the toilet paper in the teacher's lounge, I had nothing to do with it!" Sun said.

Ozpin stared at the boy. "No, Mr. Wukong this goes far beyond that. There is an interschool competition coming up. This is an international event, similar to the Triwizard Tournament. The five of you were hand picked for this."

"Oh!" Harry exclaimed. "My sister told me about that! Its taking place in England, right?"

Ozpin nodded. "Your guardians and parents have already been informed and they have given their consent. I will be making an official announcement tomorrow, but here are your flight tickets." He handed them their tickets.

"Why not travel by magical means?" Weiss questioned.

"Because Hogwarts' Headmaster declined to allow our portkey through the wards. And the British Ministry also declined us travel by portkey to UK at the very least."

"And why are we travelling by economy?"

"Just when you thought that the spoilt heiress was gone..." Silena muttered under her breath, but loud enough for Weiss to hear. They were rivals; both of them competing for the 'best female student' award that is handed out to, well, the best female student in not only academics but also extra curricular activities. It was awarded every year, and each year (as in first year to seventh year) got their own best student award.

Silena had three to her name while Weiss had two.

Harry usually won the male counterpart of the award, and that was only because he had been bribed by Rowena with every new console that hits the shelves in the future.

"Nah, Ice princess is right," Yang commented. "With the fees we pay, surely we can get at least Business."

Ozpin sighed. "These were provided by the government. Can't do anything about this. Now return to your classes. And no, Mr. Potter, I do not mean go and sleep in an empty one."

* * *

 _(London, 5 October 2005)_

The five chosen Beacon students, their headmaster, and, much to a certain demigod's dismay, Rowena, stepped out of Heathrow Airport in London. It was hard to make out the time by looking out; no one knew what England did to anger Zeus so much that it had been raining for the past few hours.

Harry was not surprised to find out that his sister was also visiting Hogwarts with them. She was the Head of International Education Board of the ICW, and hence her presence was a must. He was, however, disappointed when she took the seat next to him on the plane. That was reserved for Silena.

As they reached the outside where a man stood with a board that said 'Beacon' on it, everyone froze. Everyone, from the security to the airport staff to the tourists and travellers. Not even the Beacon students, save for Harry and Silena, were spared. Along with the demigods, Rowena was fine too.

Silena took out her dagger, while Harry simply looked at his sister, who nodded at him.

In a bright flash, Merlin appeared in the airport. "Whew. The spell works! I, the almighty Merlin, have did it again!"

Silena was confused. _This_ was Merlin? The only mage in history to be ascended to a god?

"You created a time freeze spell that affects non demigods. How... original," Rowena commented sarcastically. Silena could definitely see where Harry got his snark from.

Merlin looked at his student. "I'll have you know, that making it affect just humans is—"

"As simple as adding a DNA detector code to the spell's core."

"Which is quite—"

"Easy if you know the spell like the back of your hand."

Harry and Silena watched with mirth and awe respectively as Merlin and Rowena argued.

"Now, now, Rowena, not all of us were freaking geniuses!"

Silena gasped, while Rowena facepalmed.

"Oops," Merlin muttered. "Forgot about her."

 _An explanation later..._

"Why didn't you tell me?" Silena asked Harry. She was understandably angered by the big reveal.

"I was under an oath! I couldn't even if I wanted to!"

"Oh? I thought our relationship was one without secrets! And here you are, keeping the fact that you were raised by the most powerful witch ever?!"

"But I wasn't raised by Morgana!"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, brother dear. You're grounded for a month when we get back." Rowena said dryly.

"He is right, though. If Morgana was alive, she would have defeated you in an instant," Merlin said.

"You're just saying that because she slept with you once."

As the four continued to bicker and quarrel amongst themselves, they failed to notice a lone ghost that came in. "Shut up all of you! You are giving me a head ache and my brain was long since disintegrated into dirt!"

All four of them turned towards the ghost. "Salazar? What are you doing here?" Harry questioned.

"Of course you know him too," Silena grumbled angrily. Harry hugged her, "Can you please not be mad at me?"

"I would if you let go."

"Oh, I am hugging you for your own protection."

"Against what?"

Salazar answered for her, "Let go! How can I make a fair assessment of her cup size!"

"What?" Silena said in a deceptively calm, quiet voice.

"Eh, its probably high C, low D," Merlin answered. "And knowing her mother, with whom I have been trying to get down and dirty with for the past 1000 years, they're firm as hell."

Silena's rage was through the roof. "Harry," she said sweetly, "My dagger needs to make a friend. Let me go, or its first friend will be little Harry."

Harry let go of her, and faster than anyone could blink, was hiding behind his sister who was getting more and more annoyed.

"I mean, " Merlin continued, "all I was asking for was one nig—"

A high pitched, girlish scream tore through the god's throat as Silena's knee connected with his crotch. Merlin fell to the ground, grabbing at his privates, "I think you popped one!"

Rowena stared at the girl with wide eyes, before she laughed. "You know what, I approve of your relationship with my brother. But enough of this nonsense. Master Merlin, you are a god. That should not hurt. Why are you here?"

Harry was officially scared of angering his girlfriend. He flinched when she stood by his side. "That should be a lesson for you as well Harry. I would _hate_ to find out any other secrets of yours through someone else."

Harry nodded frantically.

"Anyways," Merlin said in a high pitched voice, "I am here to inform you that... what's his name? Pantyshorts? No, Voldysnot? Nah, that's not it either... Ah yes! Volde-moriarty! Ah, whatever. That guy who murdered your parents is back."

Harry stared at the god. "You froze time, came here with Salazar, just to tell us that Voldemort was back?!"

"I came here of my own accord!" Salazar yelled. Which went ignored.

"Oh, my mother wants you to take care of it." Merlin said and vanished, afraid that the psychopathic daughter of Aphrodite would stick her dagger in his manhood if stayed.

In his haste, he had forgotten to unfreeze the time. Which worked well as then they would have to explain Salazar.

Rowena turned to the ghost. "Why are you here?"

Salazar smirked. "I am here because... just to have fun! Also I am staying in Harry's mind."

"No, you're not," all three said together.

"And if you are wondering how I got out of Underworld, well...

 _'Oh,_ _so that's why they call you snake-tongue,' Melinoe breathed as Salazar rose from beneath her. 'Do it again... I will grant you any wish as long as it is within my power!'_

"...its a long story. But you can't stop me!" Salazar yelled, and he floated into Harry. Despite the efforts made by everyone else, they were unable to get Salazar out of Harry's mind. At least he wasn't controlling the boy, but Salazar doubted he could. Harry was taught Occlumency by Rowena, someone with extremely powerful mind shields, and Salazar was finding a hard time not to be thrown out by said shields in Harry's mind.

Merlin conviently came back and unfroze the time and left before anyone could do anything.

* * *

The students of Hogwarts were quite excited. The first school to visit them had arrived. They didn't know much about Beacon Academy, except that it was the best school in the Americas.

They were not expecting a SUV to drive them here, however. What sort of a magic school used muggle machines? And they didn't even show off when they entered. Simply walked in, greeted Professor Dumbledore, and he guided them to their rooms. Except for the beautiful black haired woman who appeared to be in her twenties. She got her own quarters.

Different people had different reactions, of course.

Neville Longbottom was excited to meet the new kids; he was always excited about meeting new friends. He had come a long way since his past cowardly shy self. He was quite confident about everything, and was always happy to help anyone in need. He, however, was not so observant, or else he would have noticed that one of the students looked a lot like a certain man who had taken a photo with Neville's father a long time back.

Hermione Granger looked at the arrived students in a judgemental look. While they were not performing any advanced magic, she could see just by the way they carried themselves that they knew a lot. Especially the black haired, gray eyed boy who was casting a calculative stare all over the Castle and its inhabitants. He was standing close to a girl who was quite obviously his girlfriend.

Zacharias Smith and Nicholas Ravenwood both scowled as they noticed the boy they had met at the Quidditch World Cup. Both felt that the beauty on his arms should be theirs. They were the heirs of the Founders. They deserved every best thing in life.

Draco Malfoy sneered at the Beacon students. He felt that the school was a joke. After all, they arrived by a muggle machine. Then, they didn't even perform any magic. He felt that these people hardly knew anything, and they were most likely mudbloods. Pity. That white haired girl was almost worthy of his attention.

Severus Snape almost gasped as he recognized the face of his sworn enemy. The Potter spawn in Beacon? Surely the school had better students than him. If not, then it was a worthless school that sucked up to the spoilt brat that was Potter. More importantly, his Lord would love to know about this development.

Minerva Mcgonagall gave the American students a calculative look. She wondered what were they capable of. She, too, recognized the face of James Potter with gray eyes, but let it pass. Harry Potter was being trained in secret. No way Dumbledore would lie to her. She did, however, plan to keep an eye on the blond haired boy. He looked like a troublemaker.

Dumbledore was inwardly very happy as he led the students and their headmaster to their living quarters. Flitwick was escorting Ms. Rivers to her quarters. He just needed to get Harry Potter to be alone. Then, he could put his grand plan in motion.

He was forgetting that he would need to rewrite the memories of the entire Beacon school, and also the Camp Half Blood if he truly wanted Harry Potter under his own palm.

Dumbledore had informed Ron and Ginny Weasley to act like his best friend and girlfriend respectively after he rewrote Harry's memories, which he would do as soon as possible.

Finally, things were going his way!

* * *

Kronos was very unhappy. He had lost his greatest pawn, Luke Castellan. He could not even tap into the mind of the son of Hermes to control and/or manipulate him. But all was not lost.

He still was manipulating the mortal wizard with the ridiculous name. Even if he did not accept Kronos as an almighty being. He whispered in the mortal wizard's mind every night, for one thing was clear even to him.

Safe from the manipulations of the Fates he may be, but Harry Potter was fated to fight Voldemort in battle. And no one knew who would fall. Kronos planned to make his move right then.

He knew Harry to be a greater threat than Athena. Harry had no restrictions, due to him being a demigod. Athena could not interfere in any matters without explicit permission. Her son, who had easily set fire to his plans, could destroy many more plans of his without even concerning Zeus.

It had to be done, Kronos decided. Harry Potter has to be eliminated.

* * *

 **A/N: Finally, Hogwarts begins! This chapter was also going to introduce the Durmstrang and Beauxbaton students, but I needed some more time to get the personalities of the non-canonical students right.**

 **I know that Sun isn't a Beacon student in RWBY, but there weren't any other male alternatives I could use. Ozpin would never send Jaune, and I couldn't separate Nora from Ren. Yang and Weiss were fixed beforehand along with Harry and Silena (which were obvious choices).**

 **Hope you all enjoyed!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer and warnings: refer chapter one.**

* * *

 **A/N: The rating was changed to M, as most of you would have noticed. The reason is mostly language, and to stay on the safer side. There won't be any lemons, but there may be (I make no promises) sexual situations.**

* * *

Chapter Thirteen

* * *

The next morning, Harry came down to the Great Hall for breakfast, only to find Rowena already there, along with only a couple of students scattered across four long tables. Sure, it was quite early and it wasn't like him to get up so early, but Salazar had found a way to communicate with him by screaming in his mind. At 5:30 in the morning.

He still had a headache from that annoying buffoon.

 _'I take offense to that!'_

Harry walked towards his older sister, who raised a brow at him.

 _'Stop ignoring me! It took hours for me to navigate through the labyrinth that is your mind and the most I can do is talk! So stop ignoring me!'_

"My,my!What is this? Something wrong with you?" Rowena asked Harry as he took a seat from across her on the Ravenclaw table. He never woke up so early. And he actually looked awake for once.

"Yeah. A headache. Likes to live in my mind."

Rowena ahh'd. "That explains it. But where're your friends?"

"Sun's asleep. Don't know about the girls."

 _'Did you know that the blondie sleeps with her boobs pointing upwards? And I shit you not, those are some impressive knockers.'_

Harry pointedly ignored the headache, and instead wondered when the hell did he go to the girls' quarters.

 _'What? You think that I spent all night to find a way to communicate?'_

"Youshould be careful,brother," Rowena said suddenly as a layer of Mist surrounded them both. Till now, the rest of the students were ignoring them, but as more and more students and the staff began to pour in, Rowena took a precautionary measure. "The headmaster here... I know not what he wants with you, but he is obsessed with you."

Harry raised a brow. "Is that the real reason you came? To protect me?"

Rowena sighed. "That was a side objective. I don't doubt you or your abilities. But as a concerned elder sister, I am asking you to err on the side of caution."

Harry nodded. "Anything else?"

"... Meet me on the seventh floor, by a giant tapestry, after your classes. Don't bring Silena, or anyone else."

With that, Rowena got up and left, dissolving the layer of Mist.

Five minutes later, he was joined by the other Beacon students, and Ozpin, who gave them their schedules. They were obviously going to attend classes in Hogwarts, like all the remaining visiting students. Ozpin joined his fellow teachers at the staff table.

 _'I thought a lot of them would be sucking up to you, given that you stopped that Voldy character.'_

 _'I was merely involved in an accident. And I haven't exactly introduced myself to any of them. And why do you care?'_ Harry responded.

 _'How else are you going to have a harem?'_

Harry did not reply.

"So, what's your first class?" a Hogwarts students asked them. "Oh, where are my manners? My name is Terry Boot."

Harry gave the brown haired boy a calculative look. He could read that Terry was an only child, and possibly born in a well off family. He was smart (obvious; he was in his sister's house). His accent suggested that one of his parents was Scottish, or he developed the accent here. Terry had a pet bird, possibly an owl, as well as a cat. No, a pet kneazle. But owls and kneazles didn't mix, so the kneazle or the owl belonged to either his roommate or parents.

All of this was deduced within a second. "Hello Terry. My name is Harry, this is Silena, Yang, Weiss and Sun," Harry introduced them all. "And our first class is..." Harry looked at the piece of parchment (didn't these guys use paper?) in his hand, "Potions with Slytherins and Gryffindors."

Terry frowned. "I wouldn't be too excited. The Potions professor, Professor Snape, is a git. Favors Slytherins and hates Gryffindors. And Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws."

 _'I like him! Can we keep him? '_

Harry responded with a mental no to the ghost of Salazar, while Sun asked who he was. "Uh, right next to the headmaster. The one in complete black."

"That guy with greasy hair? Looks like a hobo," Sun commented.

"Sun! He is a professor! Show some respect!" Weiss chided.

"This happen often?" Terry asked as the two began a one sided argument. One sided because Sun was ignoring Weiss.

"More often than you think," Silena muttered.

"So, where is the Potions classroom? 'Cause your school didn't exactly provide us with a tour," Harry stated.

Terry sighed. "You have to..."

* * *

They reached the Potions class just as the class was about to begin. Salazar was screaming a bloody murder in Harry's head (that he was ignoring) about the Potions class location in the dungeon. His biggest concern was not the lack of ventilation, or a proper study-friendly environment.

No, it was: _'How the fuck does this guy get chicks in here?! If he's the head of my house, he must have slept with at least 35 women!'_

Harry had ignored it all.

"Ah, our new... guests," said the greased professor as they entered, "Please, enter. You are only two minutes late." His voice was thick with sarcasm.

"And, please introduce yourselves. Its not like we know who you are just by reputation."

"Sun Wukong." Sun introduced himself. He stood by his previous assessment of the Potions professor.

"Weiss Schnee." Weiss was slightly offended that he didn't know her. Her father was one the most richest wizards alive, and was the head of a multi-billion dollar international company. How could he not know who she was?

"Yang Xiao Long," Yang was a bit peeved at the classroom condition. The fumes would spoil her beloved hair.

"Silena Beauregard." Silena could sense a deep regret in Snape, and wondered if that was the reason why he was the way he was.

Harry sighed as he introduced himself as 'Harry Potter'. Immediately, the classroom broke into whispers.

 _"Is he really the Boy-Who-Lived?"_

 _"I thought he was dead..."_

 _"I must tell Father about this..."_

 _"No way, it must be a coincidence that he is named Harry Potter..."_

 _"I wonder if he is single..."_

The last comment made Silena growl lightly while Harry blushed slightly. Salazar was happy, though. He could start tricking Harry to form a harem now.

"Enough," said Snape, and the class was silenced. Snape couldn't discredit the boy by saying that he was lying; Dumbledore would no doubt announce that Harry was indeed who he said he was. Then it would be Snape's fault and he would get discredited instead. But he could prove that he was an arrogant, spoilt brat. "You five, take your seats. I assume that you know at least the basics of potion brewing."

The five Beacon students went and sat on the seats allotted to them. Silena and Yang sat together. Behind them, were Harry and Sun. Weiss was paired with a blonde girl with cold blue eyes and an expressionless face. Harry surmised that they would get along nicely.

All of them wanted to put down the Potions Master by a few pegs, but it was their first day, and first class. They did not want, or need, negative attention.

Snape was pointedly ignoring the visiting students as he said, "Instructions for the Elixir to Induce Euphoria is on the board. I expect nothing less than a perfect potion."

 _'I take it back. This guy's a disgrace to my house. How the hell does he seduce women with that attitude?'_

 _'That is what you're worried about? Not the blatant mistakes in the instructions? Or the fact he didn't warn us of the side effects? Or what about the fact that he is bullying the blond Gryffindor?'_ Harry askedthe ancient spirit rather outrageously. And he was correct, the blond haired boy, Longbottom (Salazar claimed that he had had a threesome with two Longbottom women as soon as they heard his name) was being berated for a mistake that he did, except that Longbottom had followed the incorrect instructions that Snape had written.

 _'Eh, that too. Except for the Gryffindor part.'_

Harry sighed. Ignoring Sun's silent snickering about the poor boy's name, Harry raised his hand.

"Yes, Mr. Potter? Was I not clear enough?"

"Oh, you were very clear. Except for the mistakes in steps 3 and 6. Also, you have missed the step where one is supposed to add peppermint to counteract the side effects of the potion. Need I go on?"

Silena frowned a bit, as did the other Beacon students. While Silena could perfectly understand why Harry was so angry, as he was created from a being that put education and intelligence above all. Snape was doing the very thing Athena and her children hated: sabotaging education. Her fellow classmates from Beacon knew this to be his normal reaction when a teacher purposely went wrong, unless it was to ensure that the students were paying attention or to test them.

The Hogwarts students wondered whether Harry had lost his mind. Sure, this was their first time meeting Snape, but the general rule was that no one corrected Snape. No one, including Slytherins, who were waiting for Snape's reaction quite eagerly. How dare he insult their Head of House? The Gryffindors, meanwhile, were quite happy that someone could stand up to Snape.

Snape himself was silent for a while. No one had dared to correct him before. He purposely put wrong instructions on the board to see all non-Slytherins fail at Potions. His Slytherins were taught the correct way the night before to ensure they would pass. "Oh? And pray tell, Mr. Potter, what is wrong?" he said quietly, a rage like no other burning inside him.

"Well," said Harry, "You're supposed to stir the mixture 4 times, and not 5 in step 3. After which, you add a sprig of peppermint to counteract the side effects, that are excessive singing and nose tweaking. Step 6, actually step 7, should be stirring the potion 6 times anti-clockwise, and not 7 times clockwise. Am I wrong?"

Snape was silent again. He knew that the Potter spawn was correct. The fact that the son of James Potter was able to see the mistakes was too much for him to take. He now had a perfect excuse to take him to Dumbledore. Disturbing the class and wasting his time. He also knew what Dumbledore was going to do, and that was the perfect punishment for the arrogant boy.

"To the Headmaster's office, Mr. Potter. For disturbing and wasting class time."

"But I—"

"Quiet! And to the rest of you, complete your work. Hopefully your American friends are not as dunderheaded as you."

* * *

As Snape dragged Harry Potter in his office, Dumbledore knew that Christmas had come early. After convincing Snape that he would talk with Harry about the difference between here and home, he asked Snape to leave.

Harry immediately knew something was wrong when Snape left them alone. "I suggest you call Professor Ozpin here."

Dumbledore ignored him. "You have grown so much since I saw you as a baby, Harry, my boy," The aged professor said.

 _'Pedo alert! Pedo alert!'_

 _'Not the time, Salazar!'_

"And Iapologize for this, but its all for the Greater Good," Dumbledore said, drawing his wand. Harry stood there, wondering what he meant. " _Obliviate!"_

 _'Oh, that's what he meant.'_ Harry thought as he let the spell hit him. It didn't work, as Harry expected it. Dumbledore didn't. He could not have him spread rumors. Seems like he would have to manually rewrite the memories.

 _'You know he plans to use a_ Legillemens, _right?'_

 _'Counting on it,'_ Harryreplied to his inner ghost. When Dumbledore used the spell, Harry turned it back on Dumbledore. Rowena had taught him how without the use of his wand. Was he angry that Dumbledore was doing this? Not in the least bit. He found it amusing that Dumbledore thought he could try.

He also knew what usually happened when such a spell was turned. Dumbledore immediately fell unconscious.

 _'You do know that he has no idea who taught you the full extent of magic?'_

 _'Salazar. You have approximately 1 minute to enter his mind and steal the information I need. I can't do it as it would leave a mark on his mind. And in this situation, he would win any court case that would surely follow.'_

 _'Not if you have me!'_

 _'45 SECONDS!'_

 _'Geez fine! Don't explode!'_ Salazar left Harry's mind and entered Dumbledore's. Harry knew that due to him being unconscious as a result of a mind spell, Dumbledore's mental defenses were down. He also didn't need to tell Salazar the information he was looking for; to be his kind of cunning one needed to be extremely smart.

Forty seconds later, Salazar floated back into Harry's mind. Just in time, as Dumbledore woke up.

"I believe that you were about to call Professor Ozpin," Harry said smoothly.

Dumbledore frowned. "Hmm? Of course, of course," He said. He was a bit dazed. How did Harry Potter get here? Oh right, Snape brought him here as he was disturbing the class.

Ozpin came in as soon as heard the news fifteen minutes later. The matter was cleared in the next five minutes, with Harry given a warning not to repeat his offence.

Harry was lucky that Rowena didn't show up. She most likely knew about the incident, as she was the one who designed each and every rune and ward in this castle. Including the survellaince runes.

 _'I helped a lot, y'know! '_

* * *

Harry had only missed Potions, and was currently walking towards his next class, Transfigurations, with Gryffindors (again) and Ravenclaws. He had gotten the directions from another Hogwarts student.

 _' What did you get from his mind?'_ Harry asked Salazar.

 _'He's gay.'_

Harry stopped. _'Seriously?! That is of no importance!'_

 _'There was also something about rewriting your memories to manipulate you and somehow obtain something called Greater Good.'_

 _'And how did he plan on removing me from the minds of all my friends?'_

 _'I don't know that. Either he was stupid and had no such plan, or I couldn't find any such plan. He did, however, plan to send you to some Dursleys, where you would be, quote-unquote protected by blood wards.'_

Harry frowned. _'I'm sorry, I thought you said blood wards for protection?'_

Salazar was silent for a while. _'Yeah, the fool thought blood wards were meant for protection. The only way that is possible is by blowing up the entire block.'_

Harry was snappedout of the conversation by the slightly chubby blond boy, Longbottom, and a bushy haired girl who seemed in dire need of some orthodontic treatment. He could tell that the boy loved Herbology, as there was an unusually high amount of dirt under his clipped nails, and his hands were slightly tinged with green, which was no doubt the chlorophyll off of leaves.

"You're Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, right?" Longbottom asked.

"Not sure what you mean by the Boy-Who-Lived part, but otherwise yes. And you are..."

The bushy haired girl, who seemed to have a lot of questions, cut in. "Hermione Granger, and this is Neville Lomgbottom. We're both Gryffindors, as you can see by the red and gold colors on our robes."

Harry was wondering if she automatically believed that she was the smartest person in the room. Which he believed to be true, as she was carrying a whole lot of books that she didn't need. He was not against her reading extra, but he was against her reading extra just to impress the teachers. Because then that extra reading wasn't to gain knowledge, but to show off how much you knew. Even his siblings didn't do that.

"So, how did it go with Professor Dumbledore?" Neville asked. "I mean, Snape is a git to everyone, and you were the first person to correct him."

"In Beacon, you are always welcome to correct the teachers. Of course, if you are wrong, then there is always some punishment, depending on the teacher, of course. So, it was a force of habit more than anything." Harry replied. Hermione looked a bit peeved when Neville referred to Snape as a git, which only confirmed his judgement that she adored the teacher's attention. He was, of course, lying about the allowed to correct the teachers part. If the teachers at Beacon were wrong so frequently that he were to develop a habit out of correcting them, then they would have been fired a long time ago.

But the two Hogwarts students bought it. Which meant that either he was a really good liar, or they were not quick thinkers. Or both.

"Really? Sounds like a good school!" Neville said.

Harry noted that they had also completely ignored the fact that he hadn't answered their question.

"It is," Harry replied, "So, any idea what we'll be learning in Transfiguration?"

"Actually, Professor Mcgonagall started teaching us transmutation of liquids," Hermione answered. Before she could elaborate, Harry frowned and said, "how boring..."

Which to him was quite boring.

Hermione looked offended, which was rather amusing to see, for him anyways. "Boring?! The fundamentals were laid down by one of the greatest witches to ever live, Rowena Ravenclaw! How can you—"

Harry tuned her out.

 _'Aren't you going to tell her that Rowena didn't do any research whatsoever in transmutation?'_ Salazar asked.

 _'Technically, sis_ did _research the subject in 1679, so she's kinda sorta right.'_

* * *

The remaining classes breezed by. Harry had run into Silena shortly after Hermione had ended her rant (he still had no clue about what she said) and promised to fill her in later in private. She had reluctantly agreed.

Harry had experienced a monotonous class of Transfiguration, followed by a Charms lesson taught by a very excitable Professor Flitwick. At least he was excited because Lily Potter was his favorite student and not because of the whole survived the death curse thing. Then was lunch, followed by three more classes that were electives: Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. The day had ended in Harry's favorite class, and where even Silena didn't bother to keep him awake: History.

Harry had immediately gone to the seventh floor, where his sister had called him. Of course, Silena wanted to tag along, but Harry had told her that Rowena specifically asked him to come alone.

Salazar, for once, had decided to help him in his way through the castle. When asked about the moving stairs, he had merely responded with, 'I don't have a perfect memory! I don't remember!'

Harry wanted to point out that Salazar could remember the exact height, weight, and three sizes of each and every woman he slept with, along with the positions they used, but then Harry would have to listen to him go on and on about the not needed information again. Salazar had repeated it ten times till now.

When he reached the seventh floor, and found the giant tapestry it was empty. "Y'know, now I know what it feels like when someone else is late..." Just as Harry said that, a giant door appeared on the wall.

 _'Ah yes. Rowena's room of... I forgot the name.'_

Harry opened the door, to find a giant room, like the size of Great Hall giant, filled with runic arrays and ward stone enchantments all over the walls, floor and even the roof. He could spot his sister in the far reach of the room, where she was kneeling down and scribbling something on the floor.

Luckily, there was a path to walk up to her, otherwise he would have to watch his step. "What are you doing here?" he asked as he was close enough.

"This room, or rather a hall, is the place where each and every rune and ward was created to run this Castle. I hid it by means of a Mist aided super illusion. One can easily activate said super illusion by walking in front of this door three times in a circle and wishing for what they want," Rowena explained. "But when I visited Hogwarts twenty five years ago as part of an inspection, I felt that the wards and runes were not being maintained. Back then I had no time to work on them. Now that I have the time, I am doing what should have been done 586 years ago."

Harry blinked. That explained a lot. "I am assuming that you need my help in maintenance."

Rowena nodded. "Only those that have my magical signature can access this place. You grew up in a place that was ambient in my magic. A lot of it rubbed off on yours, and hence you are the only other person that can enter this place. Anyone else who tries... well, lets just say Lise Meitner was not the only one who thought of dividing a nucleus."

"But the atom was not even... well re-discovered until the 1800s by Dalton."

"The failsafe rune was only designed to cause a unrestricted fission, starting from the intruder and not ending at all till it reached the smallest possible fragment. Only much later, like a 160 years ago, did I realize that it won't stop until it divided a nucleus," Rowena said this with an extremely straight face, making Harry wonder what sort of a cold hearted woman she was a millenium ago.

But he could understand why she would want to lay waste to Hogwarts than see it under enemy rule. As the Court Strategist (Harry did not know whether that was an actual position or if his sister made it up in Godric's Court) she would be secluded in the Castle. Even if the enemy got close, she was, still is, a very powerful witch. If she was the one who was captured, then that meant the army had fallen, and there was nothing to left to save.

Even then, that was the worst case scenario. Harry supposed that his sister was not so trusting back then as she had not installed a means for her to bring someone else in. Or she had, and still not told him to bring Silena here. Most likely because Rowena must have thought that Silena would distract him.

Which was true in a way. He'd want to spend time with her rather than — was that a shield generation rune? He still had no progress on his. Maybe he could take a few ideas off of it.

As the entire thought process had taken less than a second inside of Harry's mind (much to Salazar's disappointment as he could not keep up with the speed of Harry's thoughts), Rowena simply began to give him instructions to help her in the herculean task.

* * *

"Done!" Rowena said. "Now activate the newer and replaced ones covertly. We do not need to tip off Dumbledore about this." Then she paused. Dumbledore. Come to think of it, the old fool had tried to cast an Obliviate on her baby brother and then tried to use a legillimens, right?

"Umm, sis, you're scaring me with that look..." Harry said. Salazar agreed with his host. It was as scary as the look she had given him when he accidentally saw (peeped) on her while she was bathing. No wait, that was scarier.

Rowena smiled sweetly. "Activate the runes, brother dear."

Harry gulped, and activated the runes.

The Castle shook slightly, causing dust to fall from the roof throughout the castle.

"Very good. Now lets try something, shall we? Hogwarts! Protocol 3422, activate. Password: 1584326, username: Ravenclaw-zero-one."

Nothing happened in the room, but a distant rune glowed a brilliant blue.

"What was that supposed to do?"

"Nothing much, just strips the Headmaster of his magic while he is still in school." Rowena still had that sweet smile on her face, which made Harry to drop the subject. He was going to ask what would happen when Dumbledore would notice, but his current priority was to keep his sister's sights away from him. Not telling her of the incident meant that she would be angry at him, too.

Rowena was happy, on the other hand. Dumbledore had better learn his lesson as to not abuse the gift of magic. That and not to mess with her brother's mind.

 _No one_ messed with her brother's mind and got away with it.

* * *

The news swept across Hogwarts like wild fire.

Harry Potter was back.

What most people couldn't understand was that why had Dumbledore sent him to Beacon Academy rather than the finest and the best school in the world, Hogwarts. The aged Headmaster had said that Harry Potter was being trained in secret, and here he was, with another competing school.

All sorts of rumors were floating, ranging from the actual truth that Dumbledore lied and had lost the Boy-Who-Lived to the more ridiculous ones claiming that he was a spy in Beacon.

Neville for one, found himself in the center of attention for a while when it got out that he and Hermione had spoken with him. When it was found out that Neville didn't ask him if he was Dumbledore's spy or otherwise, the gossipers left him alone, before consulting Hermione.

Those results were the same.

"We need to find out more about him!" exclaimed Lavender Brown. Lavender was a huge gossip girl, along with her best friend and roommate, Parvati Patil. They were walking towards the Gryffindor Tower.

"I know! But there is just so little about him! And he must be a hero for standing up to Snape," replied the Indian girl.

"And smart. Remember in Transfiguration when Professor Mcgonagal asked him this really advanced question when he wasn't paying attention?"

Parvati grinned. "Oh yeah! He replied, straight away, as if it was something that was done in first year! The look on Mcgonagal's face was priceless!"

"Not to mention in Charms where he used an _Aguamenti_ wordlessly! He must be a very powerful wizard."

"I know," Parvati said with a giggle. "He's the perfect boyfriend material – smart, powerful and he's very handsome!"

Silena was walking towards the pair when she heard what Parvati had stated. She was looking for Harry, but having no one to guide her around the castle, she was lost. In hindsight she should have asked Yang or Weiss, but then she doubted that either of them would have left her alone with Harry.

They would have spied on her and her boyfriend for the juicy gossip and teasing material. At least Yang would have, and Weiss would have been dragged into it.

 _'They better not be talking about Harry,'_ Silenathought as she went towards the two Gryffindors. She was a very possessive person by nature, which could be linked to her mother. Aphrodite was possessive about the people she truly loved, like her children. And her shoes and clothing.

Silena had to tread this path carefully, ensuring that no one sets their sites on _her_ boyfriend. Camp was simple; she just had to declare Harry as hers, and the Aphrodite cabin had to go with it. It was one of the perks of being Counsellor. And if the Counsellor of Aphrodite Cabin had declared someone as theirs, then the remaining competition backed off. No one wanted their love life ruined beyond the point of repair, after all.

Here, though, was a different story. While Silena knew that she was the most beautiful, or at least one of the most beautiful women in the entire castle, she still had no idea who was on top of the social ladder, and who held the same power she did back at Camp. She was not like Harry, who didn't care who was who and did things his own way.

The only difference was, Harry could afford to be like that. He was a genius that knew what sort of a person you are just at first impression. This was not always true, of course, but his judgements were usually right on target. Silena, while being quite smart herself, was not so smart that she automatically could assess a threat or not.

Of course, she had to assess whether any girl was a threat to her and Harry's relationship. Harry didn't particularly care for external beauty, however ironic the situation may be. No, Silena knew from the start that he had fallen for her because of her intellect.

"I'm sorry, but who is perfect boyfriend material?" Silena asked them as she approached. It was quite easy for her to gossip. Cabin Ten was a gossip den after all.

Lavender and Parvati looked at each other for a moment. "Why, Harry Potter, of course," Lavender said. "I am surprised that you have no idea about that."

Silena's eyes hardened a bit. So they were talking about her man. But the next sentence made her remove the two as threats.

"I wonder if he is into Divination?"

Harry hated the subject, more than anything. He claimed it to be a fraudulent practice, and anyone believing it was automatically an idiot. This was only thrown out of the window when either the Oracle, a child/descendant of Apollo, or Apollo himself stated the future.

Yep, these two were off her list. She entangled the two Hogwarts girls into their own conversation and continued on her path to locate her boyfriend and her dorm. Preferrably in that order.

* * *

Silena did complete one of her two tasks. Luckily, she found Harry first. The raven haired teen was walking down the corridor on the fifth floor, seemingly having an internal conversation given how his facial expressions kept changing.

Which was entirely possible given that there was a spirit of a Founder inside his mind.

She still had a little trouble wrapping her head around that.

"Hey!" Silena called out. He looked up, "Silena? What are you doing here?"

"Searching for you! Then I got lost..." she added sheepishly.

Harry chuckled. "None the less, I was just talking to my inner ghost about how we could take down Voldemort, but he keeps dragging the conversation back to something very childish."

Silena thought about it. Then something clicked. "Wait! Most of the magic folk here use owls to send letters!"

Harry got the implication.

He was going to abuse the hell out of his power over owls.

"You're the best, Silena!" Harry grinned at her, giving her a surprise hug. Silena blushed in his arms, but hugged back. "Thanks, Harry, but you can let go... before someone walks in on us."

Harry let her go, "Now to find out where they keep their owls."

* * *

Harry had to use his connection with the owls to find the owlery. When they got there, however, they were completely surprised.

The reason? Hedwig. Harry's Snowy Owl was asleep on the perch Harry had conjured for her when they left for classes. But here she was now, looking down at a huge audience of more and more owls. There were at least 300 owls here, no doubt belonging to other students, staff and school.

"Hoot! Hoot-hoot! Hoot!" Hedwig barked.

The remaining owls hooted in agreement together.

"Hedwig?! What are you doing here?" Harry asked her. Hedwig immediately turned around, and flew towards him, glaring quite heatedly at Silena. Harry was _her_ human. It was her duty to protect Harry, the carrier of the Mighty Athena's blood, against all threats. Including the one presented by the female who desired to mate with him.

"Hoot! Hoot, hoot. Hoot." she answered as she stood on the ground in front of him. The other owls also seemed to be extremely delighted just to be in his presence, with the excitable ones flying towards him. Hedwig stopped them all with a single 'hoot'.

"Ignoring the hatred towards you," Harry translated for his girlfriend, "Hedwig apparently has appointed herself as the high priestess of my mother just because she is my familiar. Also, these owls completely agree with her."

Silena blinked. "I didn't know that owls had cults?"

"Hoot!" Hedwig barked at her angrily.

"Yeah, doesn't matter if you don't think of it as one, Hedwig! You're at the top!"

"Harry, we'll be late for dinner if you don't wrap this up."

Harry nodded. "True." He clapped his hands. "Alright everyone! I, the Counsellor for Athena's Cabin, have come to you with a mission! Spread the mission to your fellow brethren as well!" Each and every owl awaited words eagerly. "All letters sent by the one called Voldemort must be lost somewhere along the way! And don't return to him after that. Each letter addressed to this man must come to me, first! Same goes for the letters sent by, or addressed to the Death Eaters, and Dumbledore. Am I clear?!"

The owls hooted in response, each flying off to spread the word.

"Wait, how do they know who is Voldemort, Death Eaters and Dumbledore?"

Harry and Hedwig looked at Silena oddly, "Silena. They're owls. They always know."

* * *

Ron Weasley was currently in a good mood. Harry Potter was called to the Headmaster in the morning, which meant that the Boy-Who-Lived now believed that him and Ron were best friends. He couldn't wait to receive everything that came along with it.

Like now the girls would talk to him, too. He would be accepted into Qudditch teams. The teachers would always give him good grades because he was best friends with the saviour of the wizarding world.

His sister would then marry Harry, and all of his money would be his, too.

Life was good.

* * *

Life was not good.

Dumbledore knew not what had happened.

He could not feel his magic anymore. He could not cast any spells. All of the wards he had put in place to ensure that be had eyes and ears everywhere had disintegrated. His own office refused to respond to his commands.

All he could hope was that no one would find out, or else he would not be the Headmaster for much longer.

* * *

 **A/N: That ends another chapter. Thanks to all of you who corrected me regarding Yang's name's origins. I corrected it as soon as the first few reviews came in.**

 **Well, I am not sure how Silena's possessiveness is going to be received, or even Dumbledore's punishment. I added her possessive nature just to put humorous scenes in the future chapters, and no other reason.**

 **Hope you enjoyed!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer and warnings: refer chapter one**

* * *

 **A/N: review time!**

 **evans16: Dumbledore has no magic in Hogwarts. As soon as he steps out of the Hogwarts campus (grounds included) he regains his magic.**

 **Luna13: (concerning chapter 9) while I appreciate the French lesson, I think that is what Annabeth says in canon. Not sure, but I didn't have the book around. And no, I don't have a Beta.**

 **Blaze1992: While HPverse may seem like a side verse, it plays into the main plot... Eventually. At the very least, some characters do.**

* * *

Chapter Fourteen

* * *

The next day began as the one before. Harry getting up early, having a nice breakfast, this time without his sister, and then waiting for his friends. One more thing did change, though.

A redheaded, freckled boy approached him. Just by glance, Harry wanted nothing to do with him. The boy was a messy eater (he had food smudges on his collar and cheeks), possibly with a very low intelligence level, and most of all, he was convinced that he knew Harry. To be accurate, he felt that the two of them were best buds. Also, for some reason he believed that Harry was a spy for Hogwarts in Beacon.

Harry had never met someone so annoyingly stupid and ignorant. Even Ares and his brood were smarter than this one.

And Harry had no idea what his name was, given that the boy had never introduced himself.

Luckily, he was an expert at ignoring annoying people, so that is what he did till the other Beacon students arrived. Or at least, till one of them did.

"Who's this?" Sun asked. He could clearly see the annoyance on Harry's face, which meant that this redhead was that special kind of stupid. It did take a lot of stupidity for Harry to be visibly annoyed.

"Some idiot who thinks that I am his BFF or something," Harry replied evenly.

Before Sun could ask why, the redhead turned to Sun, "Can't you see that you're not needed here?" the boy had almost yelled. He would have caused a scene, but there weren't many students in the Hall. "Unless you called him here 'cause you're a spy for Hogwarts!" he added as he turned to Harry.

Sun burst out laughing, while Harry replied with, "Way to blow my cover! How will I ever get the information I need!" If the sentence could be harvested for sarcasm and if that sarcasm would be converted to electricity, it would be enough to power a commercial building for a decade.

Sun only laughed harder. He almost lost his control over his bladder when he realized that the redheaded boy had not caught the sarcasm.

"Sorry!" He yelled, "I was just telling this guy to mind his—"

"Mr. Weasley!" came the strict voice of Professor Mcgonagal, "Are you disturbing our guests?"

The redhead, now known as Weasley, sputtered. "Of course I wasn't!"

"He is. Completely disturbing my peaceful morning," Harry said.

The Hogwarts student looked at him in betrayal. "But I am your best friend!"

"I don't even know your name!"

Mcgonagal looked ready to murder Weasley. "Ronald Weasley! I haven't a clue where you got the idea from, but you will leave our guests alone! Also, fifteen points from Gryffindor for your improper behaviour!"

Ronald looked ready to blow off some steam himself. Harry and Sun took this opportunity to walk away. They did hear that the aged professor gave him a detention.

"She is a lot like the Librarian," Sun commented as they got clear.

"I am pretty sure that Professor Goodwitch would kill you if she heard that you were the one who started calling her that..." Harry replied. "But where are the girls? It's quite late."

"Waiting for your girlfriend, Harry? I mean she does take more than a hour to do her hair, and then an hour extra for makeup," Sun was about to say more, but then they noticed the girl in question walking towards them.

"What are you guys doing here? And what's for breakfast?"

Harry sighed. "Long story. Shortened version: annoying redhead boy seems to think I am his BFF and then got in trouble with the Transfigurations professor."

"What?"

* * *

 _(No. 12 Grimmauld Place)_

Sirius Black turned on his laptop with a grin. He had gotten the entire estate bugged. CCTVs, microphones, and more covered every room, corridor and threshold of the house. Everything was connected to his laptop, and the footage stored in an external hard drive.

Since these new toys of his were genuine spy material, they were quite hard to notice. Add to the fact that these were designed by a muggleborn witch who currently worked in MI5, even Moody would have a hard time noticing the object, much less the camera/microphone embedded within.

How did he get his hands on them?

Well, after Diane dumped him and went back to Germany (she didn't want to stay in UK for any reason) he had met the witch who designed these gadgets in a chance meeting at a nearby café. She had recognized him immediately as she kept an eye on the Magical Government for a living.

Apparently, after the last time Voldemort and his band of merry followers killed and tortured muggles, and since the magical government didn't really care about the dead muggles, the non-magical government decided to employ wizards and witches, mostly muggleborn as they never got any jobs in the Ministry, and use their extensive technology to keep an eye on the Ministry to ensure nothing of the sorts happens again.

While Sirius didn't know who she really was back then, he had turned on his charm. It did not work at first, but eventually he got through, and now they were dating.

Back to the plot, Sirius had to see what Dumbledore and his ilk had done here yesterday. It was a routine Order meeting, except kept at a time when Sirius was invited by the Minister for a friendly (political) lunch.

Sirius had to leave, as it would be rude to decline, but the whole thing reeked of Dumbledore's doing. He didn't care, Dumbledore couldn't hide anything here.

On the screen, he could see Dumbledore, Molly and Arthur Weasley, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Mundungus Fletcher and Nymphadora Tonks seated in the dining room. He didn't expect Arthur or Kingsley to speak much; Arthur hardly spoke around his wife and Kingsley preferred to listen well before speaking. He was just the silent type.

As for Mundungus, he was asleep on the table.

 _"As you may have heard," Dumbledore said, "Harry Potter has come back."_

 _Molly gasped in surprise, then her expression got serious, and looked a bit angry. "Well, about time! We can finally get the money we deserve!"_

Sirius blinked. Money she deserved for what? Being an overbearing mother/housewife/wife?

 _"What money?" questioned Tonks. She was confused as the next person._

 _Molly blushed. "Um, I placed a bet on whether he was alive or not..."_

Sirius had to applaud her for the lie. And yes, that was sarcasm.

 _Tonks and the others seemed to understand._

 _"Later, Molly," Dumbledore said, as if chiding a child. "But, how are we going to keep him in the country?"_

 _"Why?" Tonks questioned again. "We can simply ask him to stay and defeat You-Know-Who."_

 _Dumbledore shook his head. "I have met the child. He is lost, alone in this world. He doesn't trust us easily. But if we keep him, he may just listen to us."_

Sirius blinked again. Was Dumbledore seriously going to play by that angle? Surely they would remember him as Harry's godfather, right?

 _"That poor boy," Molly said sadly. "It must be so hard on him..."_

Sirius slapped his forehead as he realized everyone had bought that. Kingsley excluded; but that was again to be expected. Kingsley was an intelligent soul.

 _"What of Sirius Black? The man is his godfather, right?" Kingsley asked._

 _"Sirius was in Azkaban for over twelve years. Who knows how much of his mind was damaged by dementors?" Dumbledore said. "And even if it wasn't, Sirius is simply too immature to raise a child."_

At this point, as the more doubtful members of the meeting were convinced as well, Sirius began wondering if James and Lily would have been alive if the three of them would have been able to tell the aged headmaster's lies as well as Sirius was doing now.

* * *

Minister Fudge was in a relatively good mood. His 'friend' Lucius Malfoy had made another generous donation, and even more, Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, had finally been found.

Why had Dumbledore put him in Beacon was anyone's guess, but if that Rita Skeeter was correct, and Fudge felt that she was the most honest reporter, then Dumbledore had truly gone senile and mistakenly enrolled Harry in Beacon.

Not that it mattered; Harry Potter was back in England. As the Minister of Magic, it was his duty to keep national treasures like the Boy-Who-Lived safe and sound within the country.

Immediately getting an idea to pass a law that stated that all British born wizards cannot leave the country, he began to write it on a parchment. Lucius would love to see it.

Too bad he used an owl, and not the Floo.

At least he made Ministry Owl 213's day...he got to meet his Mistress's son.

* * *

Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Harry and his friends had originally thought that this class was similar to, if not the same as, Offensive/Defensive Magic. What they got was the idea that certain spells, which were quite useful in everyday life depending on your profession, were categorized as 'Dark' if it made you get so much as a small cut, and how to defend yourself against them. Like the cutting curse. Used worldwide by chefs to cut and slice meat. But the British Ministry had declared the spell as Dark.

Or at least that was what the textbooks said.

The classes, that were taught by this grizzly old man with a magical eye, who called himself Moody, were however similar to Off/Def magic. He was a good teacher, and kept the class interested either by spying on them with his magic eye to ensure that no one was sleeping, or by the content of his lectures.

Well, interesting to anyone not named Harry Potter, that is.

Herbology was just as good. Harry was sure that if they had such a system, then the professor would easily possess a PhD. But what interested him more was that Neville was excellent at Herbology, but sucked at Potions. Both subjects went hand in hand. Herbology provided the ingredients, and a good Herbologist knew how to handle them. A better one knew how to make a decent potion out of them.

Of course, he had never gone to, because he had never taken up the subjects, Divination and Care of Magical Creatures. He was a demigod, and COMC also covered the more dangerous creatures that hunted down demigods. Also because most of the subject matter (the theory anyways) was covered in Monsters Class in Camp.

While Silena had the same schedule as he did, Weiss had COMC, and Yang and Sun had both. Which was why, the two of them were sitting in the Hogwarts library.

Silena sighed as she tried to find a book on the Unforgivables. Moody had asked for a 24 inch essay on each curse. So three essays in total. How was she going to do that if she could not find any reference material? She didn't want to ask her boyfriend, as then Harry would try to convince her to do it later.

Then she would have to do it herself, bringing her back to square one. He was really unsupportive at times like these.

Or at least had been when they were 'just friends.' She didn't know what he would do now.

"Trouble finding these?" Harry asked, bringing her out of her thoughts. In his hands were three books, one on each Unforgivable.

Silena humphed. "What, a special power of Athena's that lets you find the exact book you are looking for?"

Harry chuckled; she was obviously frustrated at not being able to find the books. "Nope! I just figured that the library would have a organised manner by which they arrange their books. Like all libraries do."

"And where were they?"

"In the so called Restricted Section. I don't really know how a simple rope, that has no enchantments on it, mind you, supposed to denote Restricted, but whatever."

Silena raised a brow. Beacon's library didn't have any restricted sections, though there were a few books that were meant for teachers only. "What kind of idiot designed this system?"

"Probably the same one who runs the place..." Harry muttered.

"Excuse me," came a familiar voice from behind him. "I don't know how they do it back in the US, but you're supposed to ask for permission before getting books from the Restricted Section."

Harry turned, not noticing the small smile on Silena's face. Another potential threat to her perfect relationship dropped. Hermione was a book smart sort of a girl, and Silena had seen a child of Athena or two fall for such people.

But she was a huge fan of rules, which meant Harry would never even want to be friends with her.

"Well, maybe they should have tightened up security around the place." Harry replied.

Hermione looked ready to protest. "But what if a book would have cursed you?"

Harry raised a brow while Silena decided to watch the show. "Curse me? Right, because cursed books are _so common."_

Cursed books were rare finds, mostly because such books would be destroyed before they did much harm. Smart people usually kept these books well away from schools, but if this girl was to be believed, then the school administration was quite stupid. Besides, Salazar could easily tell between a cursed book and a normal one, so it was no harm done.

Silena, who had now picked up the book on the Cruciaticus, smirked lightly. She was only pretending to read, of course. The look on Hermione's face was far too entertaining to miss.

"But you need permission!" the bushy haired girl spluttered. This was not how she had expected the saviour of the magical world to be. Surely Dumbledore taught him to follow rules? But he was in Beacon, and Dumbledore would never put him there, would he? Hermione was as confused as any other Hogwarts student regarding this.

Harry raised a brow. "Permission? Possibly yes, that would be a sensible thing to do. Unless you take into account that the Restricted Section is guarded off by a single rope, that is give or take at least a hundred years old. Whatever enchantments were placed on it have long since worn out, and hence, is accessible to anyone. No need to go to the librarian about it. Also, good luck finishing the homework to which you have no knowledge of."

Saying thus, Harry began to walk away. "Where're you going?" Silena asked.

"Well, to get more books on the subject."

"But you already have three!" Hermione pointed out. "Why do you need more?"

"Because, one book is never reliable. To do good research, you need multiple books. One of them might be a flat out liar, after all."

Hermione, who at this point was quite angry, refused to believe that a book could lie. With a huff, she left Silena alone.

"I first thought she was a boring version of Annabeth," Silena commented once Harry got back with another book.

"Nah," Harry said off-handedly, "Annie knows how books can lie. She knows her limits, and most importantly, knows that rules can be bent to suit your needs in suitable situations. Hermione, she only reads and memorizes. I doubt she understands the crux of the matter she reads. Evident by the type of answers she gives in class. They're too mechanical."

"Why do the teachers adore her, then?"

"Isn't it obvious? Most of them are equally mechanical." Harry replied as he left to find more books. Stupid 24 inch essays...

 _'You know that the eye guy didn't put any word limit, right? You could simply write really big words and get away with it!'_

Harry grinned. The teachers' fault for not specifying a word limit.

* * *

Voldemort was extremely confused.

None of the letters he had sent had been received. The owls that sent them never came back. And all the letters he had been getting had something completely useless, like a monthly subscription for something called JustUsBoys Magazine.

But the most recent one had been quite interesting.

 _To,_

 _The one who calls himself Voldemort._

 _This letter has been sent to inform you of your eminent demise. If you're wondering who I am, its that one guy who you failed to kill as a baby. Ha! The great and almighty Voldemort can't kill a baby! You could have just tossed me out the window! Or stomped on my spine! But you used magic, and now you're... well... I don't exactly know what you are._

 _But I will be killing you one day._

 _Caio!_

 _~Harry Potter_

 _P. S. Follow me on Twitter hjpotter_

"It could be a trap, Milord," Lucius said as he read the letter.

"Of course its a trap you fool! He is asking us to follow him on this... Twitter. But once I find him there, I will kill him. Find out where this Twitter is. Then kidnap him once he comes there, and bring him to me. Do not mess this one up, Lucius," Voldemort hissed.

Lucius bowed. "Of course, my lord." He left immediately, set out to find out where this 'Twitter' place was.

* * *

Harry found his sister and a ghost talking like they were old friends as he entered her room.

Technically, he had no formal reason for this visit. But, since Rowena had not exactly taught Harry any of the Unforgiveables, he was here only to ask something that went against the fundamentals of magic.

Why were these three spells unstoppable by a magic shield.

"Uh... Hi?" Harry questioned as he entered.

The ghost lady shimmered, as if to leave, but Rowena stopped her. "Harry," Rowena raised a brow, "This is Helena, my niece. Helena, this is Harry, whom I suppose would be your uncle."

Helena's ghost turned towards Harry. She had waist length hair, possibly black, but could be any other dark color (ghosts appeared as white and black figures, and Helena was no different), and a robe that covered her entire body. Her looks were almost the same as Rowena's, except for her nose, which was smaller, and her eyes that were certainly not grey.

"You mean the young Potter you raised," Helena said serenely.

Rowena nodded. "But what are you doing here?"

Harry decided to get to the point. His sister looked like she and Helena wanted to be left alone for a while. "Why are the Unforgivables considered undefendable by magical means?"

Rowena allowed a small smile to grace her face. "They can be stopped using a magical shield. But you find out how. And send that idiot outside your mind."

 _'Tell her I am not here!'_

 _'She knows you are.'_

"Indeed I do, Salazar. Get out of my brother's mind right now."

Helena looked confused. "Uncle Salazar is..."

"The most important ghost in all of the world!" Salazar made his entrance. "Now available in tangible form as a limited edition."

"Quit that. Mind telling me why you could not answer Harry's question? You know the answer," Rowena enquired.

"Well, I was preoccupied."

"What could be more important than Harry's education?"

"His mental defences. When did you teach him to convert his memories into their digitalized binary forms? All I can make out are 1's and 0's! And break that encryption only to find out that it leads to another encryption!"

Harry would have pointed out that the secondary encryption was actually ASCII, but Salazar was better off not knowing. Helena, however was confused. What was binary, digit whatever, and what did numbers had to do with memories.

Rowena blinked. "Hiding memories behind an encryption and then converting them into binary... That is quite ingenious."

Harry felt his ego rise through the roof with his sister's praise. It had taken him a while to do it, like 6 months or so. But he decided to get back to his original question.

"What about magical vacuum? Would that work?" Harry asked, causing Rowena and Salazar to turn to him. Helena was still confused.

Rowena answered after thinking about it for a while. Magical vacuum was a spell theory she created back in early 1900s. The basic idea was that the spell would create a field around the user that would convert any incoming magical energy to other forms and disperse the extra energy into nature.

Of course, 'vacuum' was a misnomer; but magical energy transformation and transduction field was too much of a mouthful. Why Rowena decided on 'vacuum' was anyone's guess, not that Harry or Rowena cared much.

"Harry, even after a century I haven't been able to complete the spell. Theoretically, though, it might work." Rowena answered.

Harry nodded, and bid them farewell and left.

It took a moment for Salazar to realize that Harry had left him behind. "WAIT FOR ME!" The ghost yelled, running, er, floating after him.

Helena turned to her aunt. "This is going to take a while," Rowena muttered, knowing that she had to explain everything to her.

* * *

Neville Longbottom had no idea how to follow his grandmother's instructions. But then again, he should have expected this when he told her that Harry was back.

Augusta Longbottom had asked, no, ordered him to make friends with Harry Potter. She saw Harry not as the Boy-Who-Lived, or just Harry, but rather as the heir to the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter. While he had no problems with her order, he had no idea how to go about doing this.

If Harry had been raised in England, it would have been as easy as saying that their families were allies for more than 500 years, and hence it was their duty to follow. But from what Neville had gathered, Harry didn't care for these things.

Sure, their parents were close friends. Not best of buds, but still quite close. Alice and Lily were in the same dorm in Hogwarts, and while Frank was a year above James, the two were childhood friends from the many Pureblood Gatherings. But Neville was not sure even if that would work.

Neville knew full well that his grandmother wanted him to befriend Harry solely because of social standing and tradition. Not because she thought it would benefit either of them. He doubted that Harry even knew how much political power he held, or even how much influence he had on the masses despite not being a British citizen, even when he was missing.

For one, the Harry Potter Adventures books were written that were obviously false accounts of what the Boy-Who-Lived did while he was missing. The smarter persons never bought it, but Neville knew of a few of his Uncle's friends who believed that.

Another example was how Dumbledore could easily pass certain laws if he simply said something like, 'That is what James and Lily Potter would want for their child, our hero...'

And most recent example was Sirius Black. He had destroyed many of Umbridge's anti werewolf laws in a single day. All this by simply saying that Harry Potter had told him to do so. Of course, the man was very subtle in invoking Harry's name, but the hidden meaning was quite clear. It always worked like a charm.

Neville wondered if he could approach Harry for Potions lessons and work his way up from there. Hermione would be very angry at him, but between angering Hermione and his grandmother, he would choose Hermione any day of the week.

* * *

Neville approached Harry right after the classes finished that day, and his friends seemed to be arguing about some phone calls. Whatever that was.

"And I keep telling you, there is no signal for a phone call!" Weiss snapped at Sun as he was annoying her for his own amusement. He didn't exactly need to call anyone, but there was only a certain amount of time he could go without technology.

Luckily, Ozpin had promised them that they would be allowed a few gadgets once he gets the formalities done. How will they get them? Apparently Amazon shipped to Hogwarts. If not, there was always the Schnee Company. That was how Weiss was the only one to have a Nokia mobile phone.

"Now, now, Weiss," Silena cut in, "I am sure that you can get some network for a call."

Weiss glared at her rival. "There. Is. No. Network!"

"Perhaps you should catch fishes. That would be real net work!"

Almost everyone, including the surrounding few Hogwarts students, groaned at Yang's bad joke, even though most of them had no clue what a network, or a call or a signal was in this particular context.

Neville decided to wait until Harry was alone before he could ask him.

Harry, despite his suspicion that Neville had an ulterior motive, decided to agree. After all, why would a Hogwarts student approach him, an outsider regarding Potions lessons? Sure, Harry didn't really care for these things, but it still made him wonder. Besides, as a son of Athena, who was he deny the growth and spread of education? He was supposed to promote it and that is what he would do.

After agreeing to meet Neville at a place Neville was comfortable with (an empty classroom on the third floor), Harry met up with his friends and girlfriend, bringing them up to speed. Weiss was a bit apprehensive; this was supposed to be a interschool competition. Sun and Yang didn't particularly mind; it seemed like a good way to make friends for them.

Silena volunteered to assist Harry, but only if he needed her. Perhaps it was her wording or simply the fact that she was his girlfriend, Harry agreed. Her motive was only to spend time with Harry, and find out whether Neville had any feelings for Hermione. She, just like her mother Aphrodite, enjoyed pairing people up, sometimes because it was necessary to propagate love, and sometimes because she was bored.

She was still a bit confused with her other classmates, namely Weiss and Sun. On one side, Sun and Weiss fought like a cute married couple, but Sun had a crush on another classmate of theirs who had not come with them – Blake.

So many choices... What would her mother do?

* * *

Neville and Hermione sat in the classroom they had agreed upon. Hermione was here simply because she was angry with Neville for not coming to her for help, and also because she felt that Harry Potter could not possibly match the knowledge of the teacher.

She was jealous of Harry, of course. He had more knowledge than her, and that was something her pride couldn't handle. Unless it was an upperclassman, expert or a teacher, no one should have more knowledge than Hermione in her age group.

Harry came in the class with Silena a good five minutes late.

"You're late!" Hermione snapped. "And what is she doing here?"

"Well, given that the class does not begin till I come in, I am not late, you are early. And Silena is here for the same reason as you: to observe. She is also my assistant, I guess."

"I am your assistant in this case," Silena winked.

Neville had no problems with her being there, one because he was a hot blooded, straight male. What sort of a guy doesn't like it when a really hot girl is around them? Sure, she was taken, but his teenage mind said, 'What's wrong with appreciating the view?' The second reason being that he didn't want to antagonize Harry, despite the first reason kind of contradicting this one.

His grandmother would kill him if she found out that Harry Potter hated him because of a mistake he made.

After Harry began, Hermione knew that he was not qualified enough. Who teaches Chemistry instead of Potions? There was no Chemistry exam. She was silenced when she pointed it out, when Harry simply told her that without Chemistry, there would be no Potions.

Chemical reactions took place during Potion formation, and even magical ingredients were composed of substances that could be traced into their molecular form. If one understood how these chemicals were reacting in different situations, then Potions was as easy as addition and substraction.

Hence, it was crucial to learn the fundamentals of Chemistry first.

After Harry explained all of this, Hermione decided to stay silent and listen. She may hate him at this point, but even she could not deny that the subject matter was interesting.

* * *

As November rolled in, so did the other two schools.

Beauxbatons arrived first, through a carriage pulled by giant pegasii called Abraxans. Much to Sun's happiness, the Beauxbatons team consisted of five girls, one of which was obviously a veela. Silena decided that she hated the veela.

She was threat no. 1 at this point.

Their headmistress was a giant woman, well half giant to be accurate, named Olympe Maxime.

Dumbledore and Ozpin immediately greeted her, and led her inside to Dumbledore's office. Rowena followed, smirking inwardly at Dumbledore's back who was forced to use house elves to enter and leave his office. He was doing a wonderful job of hiding it, as even Ozpin had not noticed.

Shortly after the French school's arrival, Durmstrang had showed up through a ship that they commandeered and navigated through the Black Lake. Harry wondered how; Durmstrang was located in Bulgaria and Black Lake didn't have any rivers that connected it to the sea. Maybe there was a channel underground?

Their team consisted of burly men in red and fur themed uniform. They also had Victor Krum in their team, which surprised Yang and Silena. He was that young? Sun was too busy staring at the veela to care, and Harry and Weiss hated Quidditch.

As the four headmasters were having a talk, three more individuals, that Harry recognized as officials from the ICW's International Sports and Games Department entered. Mcgonagall led them to Dumbledore's office.

Harry also noticed that the Beauxbatons girls were seated at the Ravenclaw table and the Durmstrang at the Slytherin table. Salazar was unhappy with the arrangement; the hot French women should be on his table.

Harry also noticed that the Malfoy kid, whom he had met just a few days ago, was trying to 'make friends'.

Harry's meeting with the Malfoy was a bit comical.

 _Flashback starts..._

 _It was after another class with the Slytherins._

 _Harry and Silena had just come out of the class when the platinum blonde haired boy, with a nasal voice, stopped them. He was with two other boys that Harry had to wonder if they had de-evolved to Neanderthals._

 _"My name is Malfoy, Draco Malfoy. This is Crabbe, and Goyle," the boy introduced._

 _"So, a James Bond fan, eh?" Silena asked._

 _Draco sneered. "No one is talking to you, mudblood."_

 _Silena, who had never even heard the term 'mudblood' before, but still figured out that it was an insult, replied with, "But you just did!"_

 _As for Harry? Well..._

'HAHAHAHAHA! WHAT KIND OF A NAME IS MALFOY! THIS IS THE FUNNIEST SHIT EVER!' _Yep, that was Salazar. He continued to laugh loudly inside Harry's mind until he noticed the Slytherin crest and colors on the boy's robes. Then he kept trying to convince Harry and go see if the Sorting Hat was still fully functional. Like hell he wanted the ridiculous kids in his house! And he had no tact or cunning!_

 _Flashback end_

And that was how he had first met Draco Malfoy. The blond Slytherin had learnt not to challenge Silena after that, as when he kept insulting her, she had enough and used her charmspeak to make him jump out of the window.

Luckily or not, they were on the first floor when that happened.

He had also got on Harry's bad side as Silena got angry at Harry as he didn't come to her rescue. It was then Harry realized that even though she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, Silena liked getting rescued by him.

Harry had tried to explain that Salazar was being a bigger headache but she only let him off the hook after a full thirty minutes of ranting about how boyfriends should protect their girlfriends' honor.

Harry let it slide; she was a daughter of Aphrodite, and hence would have some princess fantasies. She may try and break the stereotype, but even Silena had her typical daughter of love goddess moments.

* * *

Dumbledore, Ozpin, Maxime and Karkaroff were in Dumbledore's office along with Rowena and the three ICW officials.

"So, we'll be using the Goblet of Fire to decide our champions?" Dumbledore questioned.

"Headmaster Dumbledore, each school has five contestants, and not one. Surely you received the memo," Rowena cut in.

Dumbledore cursed inwardly for forgetting that; but with Harry Potter returning, him being stripped of his magic, and his plans crashing down (the ones that regarded Harry), he had a lot on his mind.

"Surely you can forgive me... I must be getting old," Dumbledore said in a grandfatherly tone. Only Rowena was not fooled by it.

One ICW official, Salvadore Bellandi, cut in. "Do you have the names of the contestants? We need their names and year, Professor Dumbledore. Each school has already submitted theirs." He had a thick Italian accent, and the typical Italian features. Except for his hair, which was snow white.

Dumbledore fumbled again. He had thought about it, but couldn't decide amongst the seventh year students. There was Angelina Johnson, Cedric Diggory, Roger Davies... But Dumbledore had no idea if they wanted to participate. Of course, if he told them to, then they would listen. He was Dumbledore, after all.

"You have not? No matter. You have a week to finalize. The first event shall begin on the dawn of 24th of November. It is a Thursday, I believe. If the Hogwarts candidates are not decided, Hogwarts will be disqualified," Bellandi informed.

"Also," cut in the second ICW agent, Maria Fernández. She was a forty something brunette, with short, neck length hair. "No Headmaster shall be allowed to be the judge for any event. Only the three of us, and Grand Sorcerer Rivers," pointing towards Rowena, "are allowed to judge. If any of us are absent, another official from the ICW shall be sent."

The four Heads of their respective schools nodded. It was fair to have a third party judge. Which was why none of the three officials were American, British, Bulgarian or French.

The final ICW official, Jaques Bernadotte, stepped up. Despite the French first name, he was Swede, and no, he was not related to the Royal Family of Sweden. "You will be informed the details and location of the first event a week prior to the event. Please bear in mind that the next events shall be announced in such a manner. Each event will have it's own reward. The winner shall be declared as the school to be first in maximum number of events. There will be six in total."

Again, the four heads agreed. They already knew of this, but it was the job of the ICW officials to remind them.

The Interschool Competition was finally beginning.

* * *

 **A/N: It's been a month since I last uploaded the previous chapter... And that was because I lost the files for this story. Luckily, I had a backup, which I had forgotten about.**

 **I know Twiiter came out in 2006, but as this is a fictious universe, Twitter came out in early 2005 as far this story goes.**

 **As for Hogwarts not having a team yet, this is done because I don't know who to put. Yet. I am open to suggestions besides the ones Dumbledore mentioned. While we are on the topic, yes, Krum, Fleur, Cedric, Roger Davies and Angelina Johnson have been de aged.**

 **About Hermione being painted in a negative light, I am doing that mostly for fun. She has no relative importance to the plot as such. So, unless most of you guys think otherwise and tell me not to paint her in a negative light, I will continue to do so. She can be redeemed at any point I suppose. And no, she is not the pairing for Neville. That is undecided.**

 **Speaking of pairings, yes, Sirius's pairing is a plot device. I may keep the current one as the final one, but not sure for that either.**

 **And if it wasn't clear, the Order meeting took place after Dumbledore met Harry, but before he had his magic stripped from him.**

 **As always, hope you enjoyed!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer and warnings: refer chapter one**

* * *

 **A/N: On Hermione bashing, a lot of you want it, with one of you asking me to do my own thing and not worry about reviewers. So she will be painted like I've been doing, either till her character becomes completely useless (more than she is) or till I get bored of it.**

* * *

ChapterFifteen

* * *

Harry stood on a beach.

He knew this to be a dream; the beach was empty, and the scene was that of a nice evening. There was also the blue sun, which still transmitted yellow light, and the black water of the sea. But, funnily enough, he didn't remember falling asleep.

That meant one thing.

Yep, he was summoned here by Merlin.

"Figured it out, did you?"

Harry turned. Merlin stood behind him, looking like how he looked in most books: long white beard, old, wrinkly skin, and frail arms. "Surprised by my appearance, are you not?"

Harry stood silent.

"Speaks volume, your silence does. Why I called you here, wondering you must be."

Why he was trying to talk like Yoda was beyond Harry. "Not really," he replied answering both of Merlin's questions. "You most likely want to tell me about the little mission you gave me."

"A smart one, you are."

"Yeah, stop that. I want to go back. So get to the point, and maybe I won't tell sis that you were the one who mailed me that Playboy magazine."

Merlin's skin de-aged. His beard shortened, reaching his chin, all the while turning brown. "Ah, you're no fun!" Merlin now looked exactly how he did when they met him in London.

The scenery also changed to the top of the Empire State. The mortal top, mind you.

"I wasn't really clear with what Mother wanted you to do."

Harry frowned. "Kill the guy called Voldemort. Pretty damn clear to me."

"What I neglected to tell you is that this guy has horcruxes. About 5? No, 6? No, wait pretty sure 5..." Merlin trailed off. "Oh, the hell with it. There are about 5 or 6 horcruxes that this guy has. You need to destroy them all."

"That's it? I thought you had something worthwhile. But how am I supposed to hunt for them?"

"What do you mean, worthwhile! I don't care that you are the son of the goddess of knowledge, but–"

"You do know that Voldy and his goons use owls as mail service, right?"

Realization dawned on the once powerful wizard turned into a god. "Huh. You sly bastard. His owls told you already."

"More like they gave me the letter instructing a Sebastian Lestrange to go and check on his horcrux. I sent him a letter instructing him to dump some cow dung in Voldemort's bed." Harry replied. He would have asked as to how he was able to interfere like this, but Merlin was the minor god of minor gods. No one was paying any attention to what he was doing.

"That is... very thoughtful of you."

"Also, I suggest that you check what I am doing before summoning my conscious."

"Why?" Merlin asked as Harry's cheeks turned pink.

* * *

Silena could not believe this.

Her evening was going so great! She had gotten Harry to complete all his homework, they had a nice date by the lake (where had Harry gotten a picnic basket and the tasty sandwiches she didn't know) and finally, they were taking a nice romantic stroll around the lake.

She had even planned something very special for him. Their relationship was a bit too slow for her liking. As the daughter of Aphrodite, a goddess who was also associated with lust as well love and desire, her desire to be more physical with Harry was much stronger than average girls. Yet, they had never gone beyond second base.

Sure, most guys would have loved to go all the way with her on the very first date, Harry was not like that. He wasn't well versed in relationships, not as much as she was. Silena knew that if Harry wanted to go beyond second base, then he would only do so if he felt that he was ready.

So, rushing it may just destroy their relationship, but waiting for too long would do just the same.

Which was why she had decided to take charge, as she felt that it was time to advance. Besides, Harry relied on her when it came to things like these anyways.

And then what happens just as they find a nice, secluded area?

Harry falls asleep.

She thought at first that he passed out because of exhaustion, but then remembered that nothing they did was physically or mentally exhausting. Her next guess was nervousness, but she hadn't really told him about what she wanted. Besides, Harry won't pass out from nervousness even if he was nervous.

So, she had taken a closer look. And yes, he was snoring lightly.

"You know, his conscious was pulled away from him."

Silena jumped, her dagger in one hand and wand in the other, as she turned to the source of the voice.

Salazar sat in the air cross legged. "And nice outfit!" the ghost commented on her purple dress that hugged her curves.

Silena felt a bit conscious under his leer, before she took in what Salazar had said.

"What do you mean? I thought you left Harry's mind a while ago."

If ghosts could shrug, Salazar did. "But, this is definitely the work of a god."

"Really? Who would have thought of that?" Silena said sarcastically. If Harry's conscious was pulled, and there was no one around, that obviously left those extremely powerful omnipresent beings.

"Oh gods, his sarcasm is contagious..."

"At least your dramatic nature is not." Silena shot back.

"Hey! I get that from my grandfather!"

"Harry told me you didn't even know your mortal rela— Oh you meant your godly grandfather."

Thunder boomed in the distance as if to disagree with that. No one, not even Harry, had any clue as to how Zeus could communicate emotions and expressions through thunder booms.

Salazar turned to the sky. "Oh yeah? Well maybe if you were a loving grandpa!"

Another rumble.

"What? How dare I? Not my fault your daughter wanted it!"

Silena was dumbstruck. Salazar could understand that?

There was another, louder rumble.

"I told you! She came on to me!"

A clear blue arc of lightning spread across the sky. Silena now knew that the old guy was furious.

"Yeah, yeah you're right. She didn't come on to me... She _came all over_ me!" Salazar yelled and disappeared in the ground.

Silena had just gotten herself and Harry's sleeping body out of there (she ran while Harry's body was levitated and pulled beside her) as lightening struck.

* * *

Harry woke up groggily to find Silena hovering over him.

"Welcome back," Silena smiled.

Harry smiled back. Why couldn't he wake up to that beautiful smile every time he fell asleep?

"Salazar told me that your conscious had been pulled." Silena said as she filled him in on what happened.

Harry sighed. "Well he is not in my mind... Enough about ghosts. What was it that you were going to show me?"

Silena grimaced. Curse his eidetic memory. Why couldn't he forget things for a change? "Sometime later, ok?"

Harry gave her a confused expression. It wasn't like she had given him any clue as to what she wanted to show him. Unless it was something regarding their relationship. Then him falling unconscious would ruin the mood.

"Did I ruin the mood?" He asked as she scooted closer to him.

Silena kissed him, "The mood was ruined, yes, but by whichever god that pulled your conscious."

Harry cracked a grin. "Is there any way to regain it?"

Silena smirked. "Oh, I can think of a few."

Salazar smirked from a distance, letting the two teens have their fun. Now, who else should he annoy?

* * *

"So he pulled your conscious?" Rowena asked after she viewed her brother's memory of his godly call. "As opposed to sending you a freaking note?"

Harry nodded. "I don't really get him... Was he always like this?"

"Nope. He rarely joked as a mortal. I have no clue what made him the way he is..." Rowena said with a sigh. "But what surprises me is that you didn't ask Master Merlin more about horcruxes. Have you been snooping around the books that I specifically told you NOT to look at?"

Harry cheekily replied with, "Knowledge above all, right? That should count rules."

"Stop using my own words against me."

"But Voldy told his goon to check up on Helga's cup. Doesn't that bother you?"

"Helga had a lot of cups. You have to be more specific.. And Salazar didn't tell you that?"

"He said they were double C's."

"Of course he did," Rowena said exasperatedly. "Perhaps you should have gone with the term 'goblet.'"

Harry nodded. "Also, I wonder if he has similarly desecrated other items that belonged to the four of you."

Rowena pursed her lips. Voldemort had better not touched her diadem. It may not have any value to her, but the diadem did take up most of her pre-teen years, when she rather embarrassingly believed that she was a princess.

The other artefact she could think of was Salazar's locket, which he mostly used to create a sob story of how his father left him the locket when he died/ran away (depending on place and how drunk he had gotten the woman) and hence try and get laid. All three of them were surprised at the efficiency of his ploy.

In reality he had stolen the locket from a merchant. While the merchant was wearing it. Did she mention that it was a bright sunny afternoon when he committed the theft? One would immediately think of magic, but this was before he knew how to summon things, much less do so very discreetly. Rowena still wondered how he did it.

Godric's only publicly known artefact was his sword, and it was in her brother's possession.

But how to find the horcruxes? Rowena closed her eyes in thought. "Harry. How do we find them?"

"I thought we were going to create some tracking device that will lock on to the frequency of his soul." Harry paused. "Wait, how do we get a sample to start with?"

Souls were energy, and like all energy, they had their own frequency. Interestingly, no two souls shared the same frequency. But, if a soul piece is removed, then that piece would also have the frequency of the original. Harry's plan was to utilize this property and build a device that tracked Voldemort's soul.

"That could work, but like you pointed out, only after we have found the first one. Did Voldemort's letter say anything about the location of Helga's cup?"

Harry shook his head. "Only asked his follower to go check up on it. Not one mention or hint of its location."

"At least he was smart enough for that..." Rowena said in annoyance. "But this Sebastian Lestrange knows. And you, no doubt, have an address."

"Yeah. I should go all the way to London for that."

"Then draw him out. Tell him that Voldemort has summoned him to say, Hogsmeade, discretely. Then extract the information."

Harry nodded. Looks like he had his work cut out for him.

* * *

 _(24 November, 2005)_

The four teams stood in one of the many grounds surrounding Hogwarts. Surrounding them, were five large seating areas that made a crescent around them, forming a make shift amphitheatre. One for each house of Hogwarts, and a central one for ICW officials, Minisitry officials and guests, and for general public who had enough money to buy the tickets. The parents/guardians of most contestants were also present.

Of course, as the British Ministry of Magic had not allowed ICW to use cameras to broadcast the event, ICW had resorted to using magically enhanced satellite cameras to do so. These cameras would capture the event like a camera crew on site would have.

Beacon had Harry Potter, Silena Beauregard, Yang Xiao Long, Weiss Schnee, and Sun Wukong.

Durmstrang had Anatoly Malikov, twins named Dmitri and Sergei Vasilevsky, Viktor Krum, and Erik Makarov.

Beauxbatons had Fleur Delacour, Valerie Moreau, Maria Devereux, Clemence Leblanc, and Yvonne Durand.

Hogwarts had Cedric Diggory, Angelina Johnson, Roger Davies, Nicholas Ravenwood, and Marcus Flint.

Dumbledore had chosen his team based on his own principles. Cedric and Angelina were obvious choices, they had highest grades on their OWLs. Roger was magically powerful. Nicholas was the descendant of Rowena Ravenclaw herself, so he had a lot of magical knowledge. Marcus because Dumbledore wanted at least one Slytherin on the team.

"Welcome, everyone," said Salvadore Bellandi, one of the four judges. Rowena was supposed to be one, but she was removed from the roster of judges once the ICW learnt her relation as Harry's guardian. In her stead was a fifty year old woman with strawberry blonde hair and green eyes. She was tall, and was Rowena's colleague, as Grand Sorcerer. Her name was Alexandra Nikolaidis, a Greek witch.

She was in charge of International Affairs.

Bellandi continued. "As the deputy head judge of this Tournament, I am deeply honored to welcome you all to the first event!"

Despite what Harry felt was a weak opening speech, Bellandi got a roaring applause.

"Well, the first event," Bellandi paused for effect, "is a race! But not just any race, no of course not, this is an obstacle race! You need to use magic to get past certain obstacles, and use of the right spell at the right time is very crucial."

He looked around, making sure that everyone was listening. "Each team must select one contestant. No contestant shall use magic to hamper the progress of other contestants. If any one does such a thing, then the perpetrator would be disqualified and the victim shall be declared as the winner. In case of multiple victims, the one who was closest to the finish will be the winner."

Harry agreed with the rules. Amongst them, he knew that this was Sun's chance. He was the fastest amongst them, and his magical prowess was often underestimated because of his childishness.

 _'I hate these idiots wearing my House robes,'_ Salazar commented as Marcus Flint swore at the rules. _'I mean, they should know how to cheat within the rules!'_

 _'Cheating within the rules is not cheating, it's called using a loophole.'_ Harry recited one of the first lessons Salazar ever taught him.

 _'I've taught you well, my young student! Now go and start an orgy with—'_

Harry tuned him out. He instead focused on his sister as she erected barriers around the track. Harry wondered if the wand she was using was a real one or not; Rowena had like a millenium to perfect her wandless magic, but since she could do so with very complex spells as well, she preferred using a simple stick when in public so as not to draw any attention.

"Grand Sorceress Rivers is erecting a barrier to prevent outside interference. This barrier also acts as an impartial survellaince. If any of the participants cheat and it goes beyond our notice by chance, then the barrier will flash red, with the cheating team name displayed on it."

Dumbledore had a curious glint in his eyes. That was some amazing spell there. He knew that the woman casting the spell, Anastasia Rivers, was quite competent at what she did. Initially, when he saw her as incharge of the ICW's Education and Research Wing, he was surprised to see such a young woman in a high post.

One would assume that she had very high magical power which was why she was in such a high post within the ICW, but the Grand Sorcerer position, like every other position, was elected. Meaning, you needed to be a politician, and not a magically powerful person to get elected to Grand Sorcerer. It was just a fancy term used to call the folks that ran the ICW.

This was why Dumbledore first thought that the woman had used unsavoury methods, such as blackmail and the like, to get elected. But one conversation with her had disproved him; Anastasia Rivers had enough knowledge and smarts to almost outsmart him.

But he was Dumbledore, and no one could outsmart Dumbledore.,

"Teams!" called out the only female official, Maria Fernandez, as she stepped up, "Send your chosen competitor."

Dumbledore made the choice of sending Roger Davies. He knew the young boy to be fast. Roger was also a chaser and the captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, making him the perfect competitor. He was also the fastest on the broom, after Diggory. The fact that one's speed on the broom need not translate to speed on the ground didn't cross Dumbledore's aged mind.

Karkaroff sent a burly looking young man with curly black hair and eyes. He towered to a height of about six-four, and looked like he could wrestle a bear. His name was Erik Makarov. Despite his stature, however, he had a feminine face, and was known to be a softie on the inside.

Maxim sent a petite, brunette with a perpetually smiling face and having coal black eyes as her competitor. Her name was Valerie Moreau. Sun rated her a six; he felt her body and face didn't really match. Also, her hair was too short for his liking. But she did look quite athletic.

Unlike other teams where the headmasters were making the decisions, Ozpin let Harry send Sun Wukong. Ozpin could see his counterparts either looking at him with surprise or snorting at him, but he trusted Harry enough to make the right choice. He did know who he really was; Ozpin was a clear sighted mortal and had had his run ins with gods from time to time. Albiet they were minor ones, but Ozpin knew the signs of a demigod.

The four participants were led to the starting line. The track was a regular Olympic standard 400 meter track. They all took positions allotted to them, taking a look at the obstacles ahead. The remaining members left for the stands. They were given front row seats, at the base of each House's seatings. Under Gryffindor banner were Beacon, much to Salazar's dismay. Hufflepuff housed Hogwarts, Ravenclaw had Beauxbatons, and Slytherins had Durmstrang. Again to Salazar's dismay.

Harry could spot Rowena already seated in the central seating, besides a long haired man with a small goatee. He couldn't see his eyes, but he could sense a large amount of Mist gathered around him. This and the fact that he was in a very heated, though one sided, argument with his older sister, told him that Merlin was watching for some reason.

Sun was in the outermost ring, followed by Erik, then Valerie and finally Roger in the innermost ring. Sun could only spot a large wall in front, and an iced out area in the back.

They waited for the official to begin.

"You have to finish first to get 10 points. Second receives 5, third receives 2, and last receives none," Announced Alexandra, the head judge. "Extra points will be awarded for innovative ideas, based on how you clear your obstacles. I want a fair, clean race. Now, On your mark!"

The audience watched with abated breath, the excitement high as the event was finally beginning.

"Set!"

Sun raised himself, poised for the run. He already had a plan for the wall.

"GO!"

All four of them shot off towards the wall, running as fast as they could.

 _"A fine good morning to all, ladies and gents! I am Andrew Daly, and beside me is the lovely Melissa Tully and we are your commentators this fine morning!"_

People looked around to notice them, and sure enough, a young man and woman were seated in the top row of the central seatings, mics and papers in their hands.

 _"For the competitors, we have Sun Wukong of Beacon Academy of Magic, Valerie Moreau of Académie de Magie Beauxbatons, Erik Makarov of Durmstrang Institute, and Roger Davies of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizadry."_

 _"Quite right, Melissa. We'll see how they perform, but a lot of hopes are riding on each and every one of them!"_

Valerie cast a spell on herself to make her intangible and passed through the wall like it didn't even exist. Erik and Davies had the same plan: blast a hole through.

However, Sun had a very different idea. Using sticking charms to his feet and hands, he climbed up the twenty feet tall wall. This put him in last place, though.

 _"Looks like Mr. Wukong forgot that this was a race! If you ask me, Andrew, I would wonder if sending him was a mistake!"_

"What is he doing?!" Yelled Weiss. "He should have done what the others did!"

Yang and Silena nodded. "We're last."

Harry simply raised a brow. "I'm sure he has a plan."

Silena looked at him as if he had a second head. "You do know that Sun never has any plans, right?"

"Just watch! We can still clear it up in the future if we lose a single round."

Weiss huffed. Every single event must result in their victory!

"Ha! What fool!" Yelled Malfoy, though it was the sentiments of every student present. "Climbing up! Now he needs to climb down and then start running again!"

What Sun did next, however, surprised everyone.

As the three runners saw the next obstacle, which was quicksand, they readied themselves to tackle it. They did not see Sun's magically powered leap that made him skip the second obstacle entirely. Sun used a simple cushioning charm just as he landed, and quickly jumped to his feet, and began to run.

 _"What an astonishing leap! In one jump, Mr. Wukong has cleared not only the second obstacle, but also_ jumped _up three positions!"_

"Boo!" Yang yelled, "Puns are my thing!"

Valerie cursed; she had the lead before Sun's leap. She could not stop him, but she was sure that she could catch up. Her intangibility ensured that she would get through the quicksand, but she couldn't hold the spell. So, she transfigured her part of the quicksand into wood, and effortlessly ran over it before it was swallowed by the underlying layer.

Davies and Makarov were fighting for the third position; one moment Davies was in front, the other Makarov. Davies conjured a bridge to cross the quicksand, and Makarov used a dehydrating spell on the quicksand. But this turned out to be his undoing; without any water to support the sand particle suspension, the sand settled in the ditch that was created to hold it. It was not that deep, but it was long enough, too long for him to jump across. He tried to jump, but instead landed in the sand. He could get out, but it set him behind by a lot of time.

 _"Oooh! Poor move by Mr. Makarov! Looks like it is going to cost him the race!"_

 _"And a few points, Andrew. Points are also being awarded on innovation, after all."_

"Ho! What an idiot!" Merlin smirked. "Now, Wukong, I like! The girl ain't half bad either!"

Rowena scowled. "Master, you are not supposed to be—"

"Blah blah blah! You're just pissed 'cause I abducted your bro's conscious!"

Rowena didn't reply. But the Minister had a vocal exclaimation about the entire event till now. "Merlin's shrivelled up nut! That blonde boy cheated, I—" Fudge suddenly grabbed his crotch as he fell off his seat.

"Who the fuck has a shrivelled up nut, now ya little bitch!"

"Master Merlin, you do know that they can hear you, right?"

Merlin scowled and snapped his fingers. All the British wizards glaring at him (though he was named Merlin, he couldn't possibly be THE Merlin, according to them) went dazed, and shifted their attention to the race. He then looked at his ex-student, who was still giving him the Athena glare.

"What? You want me to fix his testicles, too?"

 _"Oh? What's this?! Ms. Moreau has almost caught up with Mr. Wukong as they approach the third obstacle!"_

True enough, Valerie was almost on Sun's tail. Sun knew this because of the commentators. The third obstacle was a giant wall of blue fire. He was sure that the fire was not hot enough to kill, or even incapacitate, but hot enough to burn.

Grabbing his wand, he simply tried to blow a part of the fire away with a wind spell. It didn't work as he thought it would, but by that time, Valerie had crossed the fire by making herself intangible again.

 _"And Ms. Moreau takes the lead again! Go girl power!"_

 _"Well, Melissa, looks like Mr. Wukong was momentarily stuck there, but now has crossed the fire wall by making a large enough wind tunnel. Makes me wonder if his magical core would last long enough!"_

 _" And it looks like Mr. Davies has made it across the fire wall as well, using a fire resistant spell! Mr. Makarov is still trying, however."_

Just like Melissa had said, Erik was trying to douse the fire rather than create an opening. He was failing horribly.

Karkaroff was cursing his student's name, ranting about how he was dragging his school's reputation to the ground. Dumbledore didn't care about these senseless things, but externally showed that he was supportive of Davies, cheering him on. Maxim and Ozpin were concentrating entirely on the race.

It had come down to a race between Beacon and Beauxbatons.

Sun and Valerie neared the fourth and final obstacle: the iced out floor. Davies was just a few steps behind. Sun jumped as the ice floor came near, and transfigured his boots into ice skates, and effortlessly skated across, changing them back as the ice ended.

 _"And looks like Mr. Wukong has taken the lead again with his ice skating!"_

 _"Well, they would have definitely awarded you extra points for tricks!"_

"Go Sun! Win this!" Weiss cheered.

"Weren't you cursing his name before?"

"Oh shut up Yang."

Valerie got across the ice by melting it, and Davies did the same. Erik was still at the fire wall. Despite having a good lead, Sun knew that Valerie had about 40 metres to catch up with him.

And she did, but a moment too late.

Sun crossed the finish line, barely a split second before Valerie. Davies finished a second later. Makarov, hence, was declared last.

Karkaroff was yelling about how the others cheated as the commentators declared the results. He was ignored, of course, until he made the mistake of complaining to Merlin. Now Karkaroff was only spouting 'Yo Mama' jokes. Or, to be more accurate, random words in his speech were changed to 'Yo Mama'.

Which was why he had to run away when he said, "Durmstrang has better wizards who actually know how to use their wands! Just ask yo mama!"

Rowena still bothered her old mentor about fixing it. She couldn't as it was a godly curse and not a magical spell. Merlin simply laughed her off.

Meanwhile, Alexandra was handing out the points. All the competing students, including the ones in the stands, had been assembled, their respective headmasters, except for Karkaroff, standing behind them.

"Beacon stands first with 13 points. Ten for arriving first, two because Mr. Wukong showed the ability to plan ahead in the first obstacle and fairly, but cunningly, skipped the second obstacle. One point because you were the only one to get across the ice without destroying it entirely."

"You weren't planning ahead, were you?" Harry whispered to Sun once he saw the sheepish look on the blond boy.

"Not really... I thought we all had to climb it..."

Alexandra continued. "Next is Beauxbatons, with 9 points. 5 for coming in second place. 2 for the intangibility charm during the first obstacle, and 2 for the impressive transfiguration of the quicksand to wood."

Valerie seemed to accept this, as did Maxim.

"Hogwarts is in third place, with 6 points. Two for coming in third, and four for the impressive conjuration of a bridge and the fire resistant spell."

The Hogwarts students booed, not happy with the results. Flint scowled, if Dumbledore had sent him, then he would ensure that Hogwarts was first. By any means necessary.

"And finally, with a single point, Durmstrang is in last place." Alexandra didn't state why Durmstrang was given a point, though it was clear that Durmstrang was given a point because the judges felt that it was not a good sign to have a team without any scores in the first event.

After announcing that the next event would take place three days before Christmas Eve, the audience went their own ways, and so did the competitors.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore was more than annoyed.

First Hogwarts, the mighty Hogwarts, the best school there is, had come in third place. _Third. Place._ Then, he still had no idea what was wrong with his magic. Even though he had the Elder Wand, he couldn't access his magic.

On top of all, Snape had reported that Voldemort would be starting his plan to take over the Ministry as soon as possible, and was not waiting for the Interschool Competition to finish. It seemed that the Dark Lord was getting impatient.

He paced around his office, ignoring the ever sarcastic comments of Phineas Nigellus Black. Dumbledore doubted that there was anyone even half as annoying as that man.

 _Meanwhile, Salazar knew he had been challenged._

Added to his worries was Harry Potter.

His contacts within the ICW had told him nothing about his relationship with the Grand Sorceress Rivers, but he was sure that they were related, somehow.

Was she controlling him? Then he needed to control her.

Did she have a hand in raising him? Then he needed to get rid of her.

But how? He had no magic! He could not cast the Imperious on her or use any legillemency to control her. He could not arrange an accident to kill her, and he certainly could not do it himself.

If he had magic, then it was a different story. He was the almighty Dumbledore, the one who defeated Grindelwald. What could a woman do to someone like him?

Dumbledore frowned. He needed information. Calling a house elf, he asked it (even Dumbledore could not say if it was male or female) to spy on her.

* * *

Rowena sighed as the house elf informed her what Dumbledore had asked him to do.

The house elf, Mippy, was the grand son of one of the original 367 house elves brought into the castle, by Salazar. He had brought them in during the eighth month of construction, with money he stole from Godric (he never found out), and the elves did his job for him while Salazar travelled across Europe.

Average house elves lived around 300 or so years, but that depended on the source of magic they were feeding from. Hogwarts house elves lived well beyond 500 years because they were being fed directly from the ley line underneath the castle.

Which was Mippy knew who she was, and recognized her as their true master.

Of course, he was under orders not to reveal her identity. And house elves would (usually) die before breaking orders. She dismissed Mippy, ordering him to do exactly as she would tell him to.

Rowena had expected Dumbledore to be a more smarter player in this game. Granted, he knew not who she was, and losing his magic must have made him desperate, but Rowena thought he was more level headed than this.

Using house elves to spy on her? Too obvious. He should have used runes for that. Hide them in the paintings and none would be the wiser. Or placed survellaince wards. Runes needed not require magic to create, or utilize. Rowena herself had designed so many in the world wars that could simply be deployed to cause massive destruction. Not bomb massive, but enough.

Rowena had originally thought that she would at least need to think even once while playing this proverbial chess with Dumbledore, even while Harry around. She was sorely disappointed. Perhaps she was so bored that her standards had fallen?

But coming here was not entirely a waste of time.

Harry needed a lot of training in duelling. His speed of spell casting was slow. Too slow for her liking, that is. Her brother was just like his ancestor, Godric, preferring his sword over wand. But Harry was also her brother. He should, no _must_ know how to duel with great efficiency.

Besides, his spell changing needed work too. Sure, he could chain at the most seven spells. But Rowena could do twice more at his age. She knew that Harry was at least as smart as her. Why couldn't he do the same?

Rowena needed to step his training, especially if he wanted to be the best.

Her brother should be the best.

* * *

 **A/N: Again almost a full month since I uploaded last. Actually, it was over a month ago. The reason behind this, is I have been very busy. I still am, so expect sporadic updates, at least till beginning of June. I won't be updating in June or majority of July as I have my finals then.**

 **About the first event, the race. I know that this idea is rather cliche, as most authors, at least whose stories I've read, use a race when they try to go original with the tournament. But my more interesting (still rather used, I think) ideas are being used for the future events.**

 **Rowena's expectations of Harry were set on an unrealistically high standard because I feel that she would have such expectations. I think it also fits in with the Athena hubris.**

 **On an ending note, warning about really immature yo mama jokes in the future, courtesy of Igor Karkaroff.**

 **Hope you enjoyed!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer and warnings: refer chapter one**

* * *

 **A/N: Reviews!**

 **Thanks to vmage2 and Ciarle for correcting the impervious/imperious mistake. It has been fixed.**

 **LastManStanding616: That would be one of the loopholes Salazar was talking about. I think.**

 **Rakaan: Only the Harry Potter villains are idiots. Mostly because of my honest opinion that they were idiots in canon as well. But because Voldemort is slowly being put under the control of an ancient being (not exactly a spoiler as I have implied it quite heavily) he will be smarter than he is now. Also, another reason they seem like they are idiots is because of Harry's advanced intellect.**

 **DarkPirateKing69: Those were some really big reviews. I thank you so much for that. You mentioned that Harry may seem a bit nerfed in his magical abilities. I did that to balance out the fact that he is intelligent enough to outsmart most of the characters. If he had super magical abilities combined with his super intellect, he would be a very u balanced character. That is at least my opinion. He does have a vast knowledge of magic, though.**

* * *

Chapter Sixteen

* * *

Yaxley, Amycus Carrow and Augustus Rookwood had a very simple job from their master, Voldemort.

Go and terrorize suburban muggle families.

It was something that they had agreed to with glee. They had done so, with even more glee. They had terrorized about seven houses before moving on to another neighbourhood. When they started on the eighth, they weren't one bit concerned about the phone calls the muggles made to their authorities – more muggles meant more fun for them. They had even laughed at the woman who made the call while her husband and children writhed on the floor, in extreme pain as they were hit by crucios.

They had ended the family and moved on to the next, when it all went to hell.

They heard loud cracks – synonymus with apparitions, only to find about twelve men pointing their guns at them. The Death Eaters had mocked them, and tried to kill them, only to receive a hail of bullets that killed Rookwood, and critically injured Carrow and Yaxley.

The injured Death Eaters were taken in to medical care, where they were healed and detained.

Which brings us to the current time.

"Just wait till the Ministry find out about this!" growled Yaxley at the middle aged man sitting across him in the interrogation room. Yaxley knew not how he got here or how the lowly muggles got the upper hand on him.

"Oh, I don't think so, Yaxley. Yes, I know who you are," the middle aged man said. "You see, my name is Bartolomew Walker, and I attended Hogwarts. Batch of '75."

"So you are a mudblood?" Yaxley sneered. "You have breached the Statue, mudblood! Just wait till I get out! I will see you in Azkaban!"

"I don't think that is going to happen either. You see, with the previous time your master tried to take control, the so called lowly muggles realized that you could no longer be ignored. The MI5 created a highly secret, elite division made for situations like these. Not to mention, we developed tools, trained spies that till now, have helped us keep a close eye on your Ministry." Bartolomew's voice was calm and cold.

Yaxley growled. "You think you can get away with this?"

Bartolomew ignored him. "And then, you and band of Death Eaters decided to attack innocent families. What did the woman say? 'Three men in dark clothes with sticks. Please send someone quick, my husband and child,' at this point, we think, she dropped dead. We immediately knew it was a wizard. Or three wizards. But to ensure that there weren't any more of you, we sent a team. Again, formed from the lowly, filthy mudbloods that your Ministry shuns. "

Yaxley said nothing. But internally, he was starting to fear the man opposite him. He knew that the mudbloods in this facility would kill him, and the Ministry would be none the wiser.

"I see you have realized the severity of your situation. Yes, we can end you just like your friend, and your people would never know about it."

"I can give you a job in the Ministry! I am a lord of a Noble House! I can–"

"I care not what you can or can not do. But I do care a lot when innocent lives are harmed." Bartolomew got up. "So, enjoy your time here, Death Eater. We'll see how cooperative you are after sustaining your own medicines." As soon as he said this, two men came towards him. "Five minutes under the Cruciaticus, I think, for every question that he fails to answer."

"Y-You can't get away with this! The Ministry will find out sooner or later!"

"Will they? Didn't you tell them that you were going on a vacation to Romania as en excuse to take to the streets to kill and torture innocent lives?"

With that, Bartolomew Walker walked out, leaving a wide-eyed Yaxley with the two interrogators.

In another part of the same facility, Amycus Carrow was receiving the same treatment.

Bartolomew then headed towards his boss's office to submit his report. He knew that he was in trouble. Eight families had been slaughtered before they could nab the bastards. His boss, Sophie Fairbrooks, was the perfect balance of a strict and laid back sort of a woman, but boy could she get angry.

As he neared her office, he heard laughter and giggles from the other side. Sighing to himself, he knocked on the door. It swung open automatically, to reveal his boss and a man he recognized all too well.

"Just the man I wanted. Agent Walker," said Sophie, "meet Sirius Black."

* * *

Multicolored spells flew throughout the Room of Requirement.

Sweat poured down Harry's face. He had a simple task: move his sister from her position, using only magic. The problem was, Rowena knew all the spells Harry could use. She was the one who taught him those. She even invented half the ones he used. Meaning, he couldn't use them and not expect a counter. Rowena had never even used an offensive spell of her own, and had simply stuck to counter his.

Add the fact that Rowena was as smart as, if not smarter than Harry, it made for a very difficult task.

Also, his sister had a haughty smirk on her face. Harry knew that this was the same smile she used either while she would mock-duel him, or when she was tearing into hellhounds who thought it would be a good idea to attack her brother right in front of her.

Harry was more scared of Rowena than of the hellhounds at that point.

Harry knew one way in which he could get her to move and that was if he conjured spiders. But they were more evil than Voldemort, and more fearsome than the wrath of the gods. Also, they would eat his face.

 _'You're a little bit dramatic over there. You could instead –'_

 _'Shut up! Don't give me suggestions! I want to do this on my own.'_

 _'Admirable, really. But that pride of yours, which no doubt is Athena's thing, will be your downfall.'_

Harry chose to ignore Salazar.

 _'Kids these days... Got no respect!'_

 _'No one respects you, Salazar.'_

 _'You wound me. You really do.'_

Rowena raised her eyebrow. Harry had not moved for at least 40 seconds. In actual combat, he would have lost by now. Salazar better not be distracting him.

Harry had quite a good strategy till now. He had used elemental spells to get her to move, used combinations of various transfigurations and and conjurations that he hurled at her to get her to move, and even used Mist illusions to distract her. While someone else would think that it was stupid to use Mist against Hecate's servant, Rowena knew that the real reason for the Mist was a simple distraction. Illusions were meant to distract the foe, and even if you were distracted by the illusion even for a moment, it was your loss. Harry had tried to capitalize on this.

Unfortunately, for her brother that is, she had seen through his tricks, and was ready for his next move even though it took her 3 to 4 seconds to get rid of the Mist.

At least he was getting better at controlling the Mist.

Then she noticed that Harry threw a stone at her. Rowena raised a brow. Did he plan to transfigure the stone in mid air? It was too small for an accurate hit. And besides, she could counter the spell before it even reached the stone. Rowena waited for it, but nothing happened till it was close enough for her to catch it if she were to extend her arm.

The stone suddenly changed into a large net, forcing Rowena to dive sideways to avoid getting captured. She even pushed it aside with a wandless banishing charm, but it was too large for her to move at that distance. If it was higher up then she would not need to move.

Rowena looked towards her brother, to find out what he did. Beside his right foot lay an identical net.

"Congratulations, brother dear. You passed, albeit barely. Clever move, though, linking two stones with protean and throwing one at me, then just when the time was right, you transfigured one into a net, causing a similar transformation in the other," Rowena said.

Harry grimaced; with his sister it was never sure whether she was complimenting you or insulting you. Probably both.

"Next time, though," Rowena said, "I will be fighting back as well."

Harry groaned as the brother-sister duo left the Room of Requirement. Silena was waiting for Harry on the other side, having gotten there two minutes ago.

"So, how did it go?" she asked.

"He barely passed." Rowena amswered as she left the two alone.

"Barely passed? How hard was it for you to barely pass?" Silena asked.

"With her... Make one mistake and it's a barely pass. Make two, and you fail. Three or more, don't ask, it mentally scars you."

"Oh-kay..." Silena wondered what sort of a horrible punishment must Rowena dish out for it to be mentally scarring. She did not press on, though. Silena knew that she would get nothing out of her boyfriend regarding the matter. So she did what anyone would do: change the topic. "So wanna go to the dorms and just cuddle on the couch?"

"Don't blame me if I fall asleep... Hell, I could drop this moment."

Silena wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "Don't worry, I got you if you fall."

"That was an exaggeration."

"You want me to separate?" Silena leaned into him.

"...no you can stay."

Silena smirked as she patted his head in a 'good boy' sort of manner.

As the pair left, they failed to notice the red haired girl who was watching them. Ginny Weasley cared not about her 'to be husband's' relationship with the older woman, but she knew that she had to destroy the relationship between her Harry and the black haired slut.

The simplest way about doing so was potions. Hate potions tied to another, and love potions tied to Ginny. She knew she had to be patient. Unlike her tactless brother Ron, Ginny had figured out that Dumbledore had no hand in raising Harry. Which also meant that he most probably won't roll over and die just because they wanted him to.

Ginny, once again, didn't care about that. If he didn't die, then the two of them would be together forever, with two children named after his parents. They would have a cosy house by the beach and Harry would be the perfect family man, and yet be very successful in his job. Ginny would be the loving wife and take care of their wonderful children while he would leave for work.

She just needed to separate him from the slut, who no doubt had him under a spell.

Ginny nodded to herself. She would save Harry Potter from the clutches of the mad woman.

* * *

It was, what Hogwarts students called, a Hogsmeade weekend.

Of course, the visiting students from abroad were also allowed to visit the small village that was just a short fifteen minute trip from Hogwarts Castle.

Another interesting tidbit about these weekends was the increase in the amount of confessions. And in cases like Sun's where he tried to ask Fleur out, outright rejections that left the males wonder why women were so cruel.

Though Sun did wonder if he had a better chance if the Veela had looked at him before declining.

It also caused Silena's 'having fun' meter through the roof as she tried, and usually succeeded, to pair people up with each other. She had created about 4 couples in three days.

She refused to help Sun, however. Mostly because she felt no one here was right for him.

Right now, Harry and Silena were being shown around by Neville and Hannah. Those two were among the four couples Silena helped get together. So far, they had went to The Three Broomsticks, where they had butterbeer.

While Harry was immensely confused as to why would anyone add butter to beer, and why didn't butterbeer taste either like butter or beer, much less a weird combination of both. His questions went unanswered. The drink itself was enjoyable, though.

The next place they visited was the Honeyduke's.

Silena loved the place, mostly because it sold all the sweets she liked. Even the new ones that she had yet to try. Being Aphrodite's daughter meant that she could eat anything, and not gain much weight. Which was why Harry knew that his weekly pocket money was lost. But it didn't really matter to him; he'd spend any amount of money to see her smile.

Harry then wondered if that last thought could be misinterpretted.

When the four of them visited Zonko's Joke Shop, Harry and Silena made a mutual agreement that they would destroy the place if either of the Stolls walked in.

The next place that Neville and Hannah took them to was the Shrieking Shack. Or rather to the fence that boxed it in.

"It's supposed to be haunted, which is why no one goes close enough," Hannah explained.

Harry raised a brow. "You live in a castle filled with ghosts and you're worried about a haunted place?"

"Yeah, I say we go there!" Silena put in her two cents.

Neville and Hannah were a bit repulsive, but followed after the couple as the two of them crossed the barbed wire separating the shack from the rest of the village.

As expected, the inside was extremely dusty. There were multiple scratches on the walls, which were made by a large animal. It still gave an eerie feeling, but Harry and Silena weren't as affected as Neville and Hannah. They fought monsters every other weekend. What did they have to fear in this abandoned place?

"What lived here?" Neville commented.

"A house of this size wasn't used to store an animal. But the scratches on the walls, the gray hair – probably fur laying around, and the reinforcing wards on the windows and doors indicate that an animal _did_ live here," Harry said.

"How do you know those are reinforcing wards?" Hannah asked. Wards weren't taught until the seventh year.

"I read. A lot."

Neville snorted. "Mate. Granger reads a lot. She would not have been able to tell if this is a reinforcing ward or not. Does Beacon teach this early?"

Silena shook her head, while Harry said, "Granger does not read the books she should read at her intellectual level. Secondly, I read so much that I am pretty sure that I have already read the book she is reading right now."

Neville figured that Harry wouldn't give him a straight answer. "So what animal do you think lived here?"

"A house meant for human and animal? Probably a werewolf. Or a dangerous animal enthusiast much like your COMC teacher. But this is too short for him. And this animal would have ripped him apart, as it was obviously out of control. Otherwise it wouldn't have used the walls as scratch-posts. As there is no residual blood, and lets face it, the townsfolk are too afraid to come here and clean it, it was most likely a werewolf."

"Well only way to find out would be to ask the residents whether the howls came only at full moons," Silena added.

Neville and Hannah exchanged glances before shrugging. American wizards were weird.

* * *

As usual, demigod dreams were one reason why Harry didn't want to sleep.

He found himself floating in the air, gods-knew-where.

He saw a boy. Ethan Nakamura. Harry knew him to be the off in the head son of Nemesis who gave up his eye for his mother. In turn, she changed him from a useless idiot to a slightly better useless idiot. Apparently eyes didn't cost much in goddess's eyes.

Maybe if he had given an arm and a leg, he would have a walking talking suit of armour...

Ethan seemed to be talking to someone. Or something.

Harry glided closer, where he could see some kind of sarcophagus. Who the hell used a golden sarcophagus anyways? It was also glowing, which meant that either a deity was in there, or a really flamboyant corpse who wanted a flashy burial.

Probably the deity, but it would be much more fun if it was a flamboyant corpse.

 _"The more that join us, the more complete I become... I need more recruits."_

Harry knew that voice. Kronos, the douchebag of time. So the old titan needed traitors to become from 1000 pieces to one piece. Harry wondered if there was someone sitting there with superglue and stitches who would take the titan's pieces and put them back, one by one, as more and more recruits joined.

If so, then this was the only time giving a like was worth something. Then he couldn't help but think whether the titan had a facebook page saying something like, "Need 1000 more likes to come back and destroy the world!"

"We are trying, my lord. But it increasingly difficult without anyone within the Camp now that Luke—"

 _"DO NOT SPEAK OF THE TRAITOR'S NAME! I believe I gave you enough tools, enough power, and resources! So give me half as much of recruits as your pesky, pitiful excuses, and we would be in a much better position!"_

"Apologies, my lord," Ethan said fearfully.

Before anything else could happen, the dream changed.

Harry was now in a frozen place. He looked around, but there was no one in sight. He knew the place; he was on Cocytus, frozen river of the Underworld.

"I had to pull you out before the titan could notice," said a raspy, dead voice behind Harry.

Harry jumped, turning around to see a man in black robes. His face was covered with a hood, and he held a scythe in his hands. "I'm sorry, but I don't believe we've met..." Harry said.

"Understandable, I only greet people when they, well, die."

Harry blinked. "I'm dead?"

"No. Your time is yet to come. And if you haven't figured it out, I'm Thanatos."

Harry blinked again. "I thought you'd be more... skeleton-y."

Thanatos shrugged. "You're probably wondering why I have called you here."

"Voldemort?"

"Not exactly. You have a piece of my cloak. I am offering you the same quest I offered your father and his father before him and all the ones who wielded my cloak."

"You're not going to tell me give it up, are you?"

"Once a god gives a gift, he can't take it back. Unless it is willingly, without any outside influence, returned. But the quest is simple. Gather my Hallows."

"I ain't doing it for free."

Under his hood, Thanatos blinked. "A god is offering you a quest, and you won't do it for free?"

"Would you give anything away for free? No strings attached?"

"Goddamned children of Athena," Thanatos muttered under his breath.

Harry then questioned, "Why do you need your Hallows anyways?"

"I don't. But I get bored, and I usually like the mortals who use my Cloak. So I just tell them to. Just because I can. But for some odd reason, idiot mortals believe that gathering the Hallows lets them be my master. Complete and utter bullshit." Thanatos said. Then he got an idea. "Besides, collect all three, and you'll be my champion."

"I'm pretty sure that you have better things to do."

Thanatos shrugged again. "True. Hades, being the miserable miser that he is, refuses to give me a raise. I just need the money for the cool new gadgets that you younglings like. But he did tell me to patrol around the Five Rivers, guard the Gates of Me, and the entrances to Elysium and Punishment."

"That sounds like a lot of work..."

Thanatos nodded. "Which is why I have slaves, sorry, volunteers to do that for me.. After all, no pay, no work."

"What slaves?"

Thanatos waved his hand as a screen of Mist appeared in front of them.

The screen first showed the banks of Styx.

 _"Stupid death god..." Achilles muttered as he walked around the banks of the river. "It's not like anyone just comes around here..."_

The next scene was the gates of Punishment.

 _"Why do I have to put up with you?"_

 _"Shut up, Ajax. Besides, aren't we supposed to be on the other end of the Underworld? In ELYSIUM?"_

 _"Meh. Not you, Hektor. You're too much of a bitch to be in Elysium."_

 _Hektor sighed. He wondered out loud whether it was better inside. "I should have chosen rebirth like Odysseus..."_

Next was the Gates of Elysium.

 _"Hey Theseus! That's a nine!"_

 _"Nah, Perseus. More like a 8."_

 _The two legendary heroes were gazing into the Asphodel Fields, ogling any female spirit that happened to come in their field of vision._

The Mist dissolved after that. "These are the heroes of past..." Harry muttered under his breath. "And you said that you would make me your champion should I gather all three Hallows? What does that entail?"

"I'll think of it once you finish. Now get your sorry ass to the living. You're staring to annoy me."

Harry began to fade, "Annoy you? How?" he questioned while he was being ejected from the Underworld.

"Because you're alive." Thanatos said offhandedly. He swore that he heard the demigod yell 'Racist!' as he disappeared fully.

* * *

It was a small restaurant in London.

Rowena sat opposite Sirius, having called this meeting to discuss what he had been up to. She had given him specific instructions about what he should do to in his oart to take down Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Creating relations with the MI5's Magic Division was one such move.

His relationship with his current girlfriend, Rebecca, was real, though. It was through her that they found out about the Magic Division, after all.

Rowena had calmly listened to everything Sirius had to offer. There was a geostationary satellite over Hogwarts Castle and Azkaban, providing information at real time to the MI5. Most of the first generation wizards and witches in the Ministry were active volunteer spies for MI5. The only division they had not infiltrated was the Department of Secrets.

And if the Magical folk decide to take innocent non magical lives, then there were also contingency plans present. Sirius had no clue what they were; his meeting with Sophie had only revealed so much. That was again, because he had generously made a huge donation.

They weren't going to trust a pureblood like him out of the blue, after all.

"Continue to try and gain their trust. If there are explosives in the Ministry, I need to know," Rowena instructed.

"Oh, if they were to go off, I am guessing that that your patron would be weakened?"

"Not exactly. But her spheres of influence would be affected, and if any Ministry officials were to chance by such a device, then a potential civil war could break out."

Sirius stared at Rowena wide eyed. Civil war? That would be very bad.

"On other side," Rowena said, "do you know any person called Sebastian Lestrange?"

Sirius raised a brow, but nodded. "He is Rodolphus Lestrange's nephew and the current head of the Lestrange House. Why?"

"Because Voldemort asked him to check up on an artefact that I want out of his clutches."

"And you know that how?"

Rowena smirked. "What mode of communication do you wizards use?"

"Owls, but what do owls have to– oh! I see now!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Precisely."

"And what is this artefact?"

"One of Helga's cups. But why would he entrust someone else the location of such a priceless artefact?" Rowena wondered.

"Probably because his aunt, Bellatrix, was Voldemort's most loyal follower."

"So a place both can easily access. Most likely the Lestrange Family Vault or their Manor."

"I'd say the Vault. Most purebloods tend to put such artefacts in their Vauls. Manors of known Death Eaters can be raided at any time, so they put their illegal and/or expensive artefacts in Vaults so they don't get caught." Sirius explained.

"I knew that," Rowena drawled.

"I apologize..."

Rowena waved him off, "I have to get back. Important meeting about the next task."

They said their goodbyes, going their own different ways.

* * *

It wasn't so hard getting Sebastian Lestrange to Hogsmeade.

The wizard was a young man with jet black hair and a hawk like face. He was here because an old friend wanted to meet him in the Hog's Head. Being the gullible idiot that he was, he had readily replied that he would meet him at the Hog's Head, where a private room would be kept waiting for them.

But then again, he was the head of the Lestrange House. Who was going to cross him? No one would dare to make a fool out of him.

As he sat waiting for the 'old friend', he failed to, rather obviously, notice a teenage girl behind him. Mostly because she was in an invisiblity cloak.

Or the teenage boy, but he had wrapped himself in a healthy layer of the Mist.

"Your master told you to check up on something of his. What was it?"

When he heard the girl's voice, Sebastian's first instinct of asking for her identity and how did she know about the Dark Lord was thrown out of the window. It was her voice. Almost like his ears were being massaged by it. He wanted to hear more.

"C'mon! Tell me! You know you want to!"

Sebastian's eyes dulled. His mind was in a daze. Everything in his being screamed answer truthfully. And so he did. "It was the Cup of Helga Hufflepuff."

The beautiful voice then asked, "And where is it?"

"My, I mean, Lestrange Family Vault in Gringotts. No. 156."

"You would do me such a favour if you were to describe the item that your master wants."

"It is a small golden cup with two finely-wrought handles with a badger engraved on the side and a few jewels." Sebastian could not get enough of that voice. That beautiful, melodious voice.

"Any enchantments on it?"

"Not exactly, but the rest of the gold is cursed with Geminio and Flagrante."

"Very good. Now you will sleep, and you will never remember this conversation."

Sebastian promptly fell asleep.

Silena and Harry revealed themselves, the later looking a bit drowsy. Getting out of Hogwarts was simple. They had simply used a secret passage that Rowena told them to. Of course, they could have used the regular entrance as they had the Invisiblity Cloak and the Mist, but they did not want to take any chances of detection.

"Sorry," Silena said as the two of them walked out. "But making someone forget something requires my complete attention."

"It's ok," Harry said with a yawn. Silena was a powerful charmspeaker. If she were to put her mind to it, then she could easily have him under her control regardless of his powerful occulumency. Which was when she asked Sebastian to sleep, Harry became drowsy as well.

"But just promise me that you would, at least, try to use a less sexier voice. I don't like it when you use it on anyone."

Silena grinned. "Anyone but you, that is? Aww you're jealous!"

Harry turned pink. "I am not! Children of Athena don't get jealous."

"Uh-huh." Silena was still grinning ear to ear. She pecked him on the lips, "I think its cute."

Harry refused to meet her eyes.

"So, how are we going to steal it?" Silena asked after a while of comfortable silence.

"We? We know people who are going to do it for us." Harry said with a smirk.

Silena realized what Harry was saying. "I am pretty sure that no one in Eleven is going to do it."

"I wouldn't be so sure. Hermes's kids love stealing things more than they like to prank. Besides, there must be gold for days in there. If I tell them how to get past the enchantments, then they will definitely agree."

"You think they'll do it for the money?"

Harry shook his head. "The excitement involved. Gold is an added bonus. Add in the fact that Gringotts believe that they can never be broken in to... Well you know what I mean."

"Did the voice inside your head tell you that?"

"Yep."

* * *

Hedwig loved to hunt at night.

Because night time was the time when all the fat juicy rats came out. Rats could not compare to bacon, but Hedwig knew not to wake up her Harry in the night. Only he gave her bacon. But humans slept at night. She had to remember that, always.

As she soared through the skies, looking for any rats unfortunate enough to come in her vision, Hedwig constantly thought about how to get the dove-lady away from what was hers. Harry was hers. Hedwig did not share.

She then spotted the perfect rat. Slow. Fat. One toe missing.

Hedwig paused. One toe missing? She remembered that for some reason a human who betrayed her Harry's parents could turn into a rat without a toe. Her Harry told her to capture such a rat alive. Hedwig quickly sntached the rat, knocking it unconscious with her talons.

She flew to her Harry's room, wondering if he finally understood the fine delicacy that was the rats.

* * *

Harry was sleeping like a rock when Hedwig woke him up, a rat in her talons.

At first, he thought that she wanted to show off her catch. Again. At least it was only missing the toe, this time. Rather than a torn up stomach and half eaten head like last time.

Wait.

Missing toe?

"Hedwig. Is the rat—"

"Hoot! Hoot! Hoot-hoot! Hooooot!"

Across from Harry, Sun rolled over, snoring noisily.

"Ok, ok! Bring him to the forest. We'll see from there."

"Hoot?"

"Only if he is an animagus. I don't see why we should bother sis with just a hunch."

Hedwig flew out the window she came in. Harry put on his Invisiblity Cloak and sneaked out.

In the forest, where everything was quite dark, Hedwig dropped the rat on a rock. Harry waited for her to get clear, before he shot the rat with an animagus revealing spell. It was the wider used variety, where the animal reverted to human.

Before his eyes, the rat grew in size, becoming more and more human till it was a human. He had grubby skin, small watery eyes, and a pointed nose, and a bald patch on his head.

Harry's rage was growing at seeing his parents' betrayer. He angrily ennervated the man. He woke up groggily, his rat like features becoming much more prominent with the way he held his hands.

Hedwig shrieked as she flew away. Harry didn't even register her leave.

"Peter Pettigrew," Harry whispered.

Pettigrew looked at Harry, fear flashing through his being. So he did the one thing he knew. Beg for mercy. He scampered up to Harry, "Harry! You've grown so much!"

"You betrayed my parents," Harry said angrily.

Pettigrew put his arms on Harry, "Please! I would never—"

"STOP LYING! Or you will die."

"Please! James and Lily would never—"

Harry didn't know what happened. But hearing his parents' names come out of the rat bastard's mouth, and the fact that he still acted like they were his friends made him snap. He didn't even acknowledge Salazar say, _'HARRY STOP!'_

Pettigrew suddenly gurgled up blood as he fell back to the ground, the _Stormbreaker_ lodged in his chest.

* * *

 **A/N: Dark ending, I know. But I had to show Harry's darkness. There will be moments in the future when his darkness resurfaces, of course. And if Hedwig finding Pettigrew seemed a bit too much of a coincidence, I didn't really have any other more believable idea.**

 **Another thing I want to get out of the way is that there won't be any updates till August at the very least. I have my finals coming up, so I won't be working on something I do mostly for fun. Meaning, this fic.**

 **Hope you enjoyed!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer and warnings: refer chapter one.**

* * *

 **A/N: reviews.**

 **MrHam31: Yes, I was going for a delusional parody of sorts with not only Ginny, but with quite a few characters. I may have failed in getting that across clearly, so I am glad that you pointed it out. But I think there are instances where the canonical Ginny may also seem delusional from a certain point of view.**

 **FelixtheSax: While I may have painted Harry as a logical minded person, which is true, I wanted to show that he still has his moments where he is ruled by emotions. As for the family tidbit, I hope this chapter clears that up.**

 **Old Gregggg: To be honest, I completely forgot about the scarf. I suppose I will have to use it in the future (if I remember to) or abandon it... Not sure what I will do with it... Yet.**

* * *

Chapter Seventeen

* * *

Harry was in a trance-like state as he saw Peter Pettigrew fall.

His sword was stuck in the rat animagus's chest, but Harry idly noted that it had missed his heart by barely an inch. It had pierced the descending thoracic aorta instead. Not like it mattered too much. Pettigrew was a dead man. Instead of dying instantly, he would bleed out within minutes.

But his mind was concentrating on other things.

Like the fact that he had just ended a life.

He was barely aware of the fact that Salazar had been forcefully ejected from his mind. His inner self was divided. One side that was justifying his action, and the other that was saying letting him live was a better idea. Another part was dealing with a few extra memories of his parents. And another that was trying to cope with what happened.

Salazar was waiting for Rowena. First kills were always hard. Unless you were a psychopath, but Harry was not. Salazar also knew that taking a life could make you into one, especially if it goes unchecked. He was not exactly the type of a person who would comfort another. Hell, even Rowena wasn't, at least originally, but she knew exactly how to talk to Harry about this.

Salazar wondered if he could smuggle Helga's ghost out of Isles of the Blessed. What? Helga Hufflepuff was her third shot at life. Salazar knew not who were her previous two lives. But the Isles had tight security, and even though Salazar was quite cunning, the security was fully controlled by Hades.

Hades, whom Salazar had not fooled. Yet.

But he would do anything to get Helga here. She was a pro at this emotional nonsense. Back in the day, she was the one anyone would go to if they wanted moral support. Godric too, at times, but he was more warrior oriented. Rowena and Salazar were the last people that any person would ask for moral support.

Rowena changed as time went on, eventually getting more adept at handling emotions. Harry was a lot like his sister in that aspect. All of his negative emotions were bottled up in his mind. Locked away. Rowena did, and possibly does, the same thing. The difference was the level of maturity and experience with dealing such matters between the two, which was why Rowena would not lash out like this even if she got that angry at someone or something.

But when an avenue came up where Harry's emotional side of the mind had a chance to take over, all of that bottled up negativity came bursting forth. It ejected Salazar from Harry's mind, and possibly took over his logical side just for a small moment. But that was enough. The damage was done.

And this was what Rowena came upon.

A bleeding body, with Harry's sword stuck in his chest, and her brother frozen, no doubt trying to cope with what happened. Salazar floated at the side.

"That's Peter Pettigrew," Salazar explained. "If only you were—"Salazar went quiet, noticing the look Rowena was giving him. He did not want to anger her right now.

Rowena, meanwhile, figured out why Harry did what he did. He never spoke of his mortal parents, which was something of her own doing. She had used a passive memory altering charm on Harry during his second day with her. He could only remember about his parents as long as he would actively think about them. It did, however, have a small side effect.

A strong enough trigger could break that charm.

Peter Pettigrew was that trigger. When the charm broke, Harry suddenly remembered everything. Even if he didn't necessarily realize it. But with those memories came the pain of losing his parents that Rowena had locked away.

And now his mind was in a disarray, and it was all Rowena's fault, albeit unintentionally.

Her expression softened as she pulled Harry into a hug. "Sleep," Rowena whispered. Harry closed his eyes, drifting away to sleep. Rowena waved her arm, and Pettigrew's body disappeared. He was a missing person to begin with, and now he would never be found.

She did wonder though, how long would be stay in the DOA Studios before eventually ending up in Punishment.

Rowena picked up Harry's sleeping body, and left, levitating the sword behind her and dragging it along magically. She could not pick it up; the sword's in built defense mechanism would ensure that she would be shocked with a powerful enough shock that would make her drop it. It failed if you had no physical contact, however.

Salazar followed. He briefly pondered the idea of getting Silena, but decided against it. While a loved one may help in such times, he remembered that the way people judge killing of others was much different now than in his time. He didn't know her that well to trust her not to break Harry's heart. She was a daughter of Aphrodite, they did stuff like that.

Hedwig hooted from her branch, before taking to the skies, flying west.

* * *

Harry felt as if he was floating in a white world.

It was hard to say, however, as the floor, roof, walls and doors, if there were any, were also white. He decided to walk, and see where it leads. Except he didn't know how far he was going; everything being white, there was no depth perception. If the wall in front of him was 10 meters when he began, it still seemed 10 meters away.

Of course, that was an arbitrary measurement; he really had no idea how far away he was from the wall. Obviously, he was going under the assumption that there _was_ a wall to begin with.

* * *

Harry didn't know how much time he spent walking.

His mind was blank, still reeling in the after effects of the shock he was in. Even then, he could feel it heal. And it was doing so quickly. He was beginning to understand the consequences of the life he took, and how they affected things. Not about his victim, but rather how they affected things that mattered to him.

Harry was sure Rowena would understand why he did it. Salazar was no issue. Godric would probably approve passive-aggresively, all the while chastising him on his brash action. Despite being overly brash himself, Godric never advocated such behavior. He was strongly against it.

But then again, everyone was a hypocrite to some degree... And in Godric's case, it was not surprising given who his father was.

Helga would be the only one against it. She was a healer through and through, and given her motherly nature, she hated it when children were forced to hurt others.

Harry though, feared only one person's reaction. Silena's. He had no idea as to how she would react. Sure, he knew her quite well, and she would never hate him, but he was now a killer. Even family members tended to disavow killers. He had even heard of relationships ending for far lesser crimes.

He didn't want her to change her stance concerning him. While he was quite sure that he loved her, he had never said it to her face. He knew not whether Silena would say it back, or simply put it off. He had, of course, considered his teenage mind chalking his feelings for her as love, when it may not be that powerful.

Emotions were confusing, love even more so. He usually left it to Silena, who had a peculiar way of understanding his emotions. Not like the Satyrs that could say with 100% certainty as to what emotions one was going through, but rather having a general idea of what he was going through.

Bit what boggled him the most was that he did not regret killing Peter Pettigrew. Sure, he didn't enjoy it, but there were no regrets. Was Harry over it? He himself did not know.

Harry stopped.

"You know, you could have materialized in front of me... Saving me from this overly dramatic entrance," He said, turning around.

"Perhaps," Athena said. "But we didn't get to have a heart to heart at Olympus."

Harry was silent for a while.

"I suppose you have questions."

"Why can humans only perceive 440 to 770 THz of electromagnetic radiation?"

"I meant questions regarding your current predicament."

"You already know those."

Athena sighed. "You are in the outer reaches of my mind."

"This... Blank?"

"Its not blank!" His mother exclaimed. "Your mind cannot perceive any of the thoughts that linger here. Despite the fact that you were, once, living here."

"As a fetus? And the fact that I can not perceive your mind brings me to my first question. See? It was relevant."

"A thought," Athena corrected. She ignored the later part of Harry's question. "But you, like your siblings, tend to delve deeper and deeper in my mind till you grow much more than a thought."

"If you want to explain how normal embryology is different from the one that goes around in here, I am not particularly interested. But I am sure that you didn't call me here for that."

"No, I did not," Athena replied. "I merely wanted to see how you were holding up... After the incident, that is."

Harry grimaced. "How did you– Hedwig?"

Athena nodded.

"But she can't fly to Olympus from Scotland."

"She can fly to my shrine about 20 miles West from Hogwarts, though." Athena fixed him with a cross expression. "You have yet to visit."

"Well..." Harry began.

"No matter," Athena changed the topic. "But back to the reason for me bringing you here. How is your mind?"

"Mostly fine now."

"Mind telling me why you killed him?" Athena asked.

Harry raised a brow, before sighing. "You know why. He betrayed my parents. Er, my father and–"

"Lily is your mother as much as I. You were based on James, Lily and myself. I assumed that you knew." Athena smiled softly.

"Uhh sis may have left that part out... But why check up on me?"

"1888 to 1891, Whitechapel, London."

"Jack the Ripper?"

Athena grimaced. "His name was Tristan Macdougle. He was your brother."

"I am not him."

"No. You're not. But sometimes, all it requires is a simple push for a genius to become insane. Since then, I made it a point to ensure that no other Ripper arises from me."

"I did not enjoy it. I don't regret it, but I don't want to kill anyone."

Athena smiled. "Good, good." Then she frowned. "Though I fear that you may need to take a life in the near future..."

"Eh, I can think my way around it."

Athena shook her head. "Not even I can think my way out of everything."

Harry grinned. "Which is why you make mistakes. Like the one where you gave a certain woman the ability to turn people into stone."

"I was young and foolish."

Harry stared at her disbelievingly. "Really? Can I quote you on that?"

Athena glared at her son. "Tell it to anyone, and you die."

"Uh-huh."

Athena sighed. He was quite like her when she was his age...

"But I can shed some light as to why you did it," Athena said.

Harry raised a brow, waiting for her to continue.

"I fear that you have inherited my vengeful nature a bit too much for my liking."

"Vengeful nature?" Harry questioned.

Athena nodded, but frowned. "Yes. No more shall be discussed on this."

"Sorry, mom. But you set my mind in motion. You can't stop it. First Law."

"First Law applies to Newtonian motion. Not thoughts." Athena commented.

"Semantics," Harry said off-handedly.

Then she noticed that Harry was starting to glow, and slowly fade.

"Mom? What is happening?"

"You're waking up," Athena smiled. She was taken aback when Harry hugged her. Her smile widened slightly, as she hugged him back. She was not one for physical contacts, but was willing to let it slide for her children. She held him till he disappeared completely from her mind.

* * *

When Harry woke up, Silena was hovering over him, concern all over face. Besides her, Harry recognized that he was in his sister's room. She must have brought him here last night.

"Good morning," he said groggily.

"It's 1:30 in the afternoon," Silena said. "When you weren't present at class, or at breakfast, I grew worried... Well, others were fooled by the Mist."

Harry sighed as he sat up. At least his mind was back on track. And no Salazar. That was always a plus. Silena tried to push him back," If you are not feeling well—"

"I'm alright, Silena. Well, mostly." Harry muttered the last part. He was completely fine, except for a tightness in his pants. But you wake up to your girlfriend's beautiful face, who also happens to be the daughter of the Love Goddess, and try not to get a bad case of morning wood.

Silena was still concerned for him. When the Mist was covering for him, Silena knew that something was wrong. Harry would never do such a thing; Rowena would skin him alive. She also knew that none of her friends would be of any help. They weren't clear sighted.

So, Harry didn't do this. It had to have been his sister, or a god. Luckily, it was Rowena's doing, who let her into her room, with a strict warning to keep it PG or below. She did not tell Silena why the Mist was used, though.

"Mind telling me what happened?" Silena asked softly.

Harry was silent for a while. Contemplating whether to tell her that he killed a man. Let him bleed out on the ground. She would probably–

"You don't have to if you don't want to," Silena's voice cut his thoughts, her soft, warm hands cupping his face.

Looking into her eyes, that held such stong feelings for him, Harry decided to tell her. Even if she would leave him because of it. Silena deserved to know, Harry thought, she deserved to know about what he did. Because Harry knew that there was no way he could keep lying to her about the incident.

Besides, better that he told her rather than anyone else.

Harry took a deep breath. "I... I ki–took a life... A man's life."

Silena gasped lightly, removing her hands from his face.

Harry took this move as a sort of rejection. He looked away from her. Until she asked, "Who? And why?"

Still not meeting her eyes, Harry told her.

Silena was quiet for a moment. She didn't know how to react. Harry had killed someone. Sure, it was because the man had betrayed his parents. She could not imagine what she would do in his situation. Silena knew that he was hurting. It took her a moment to realize that her reaction was also a cause of his hurting.

She didn't want to hurt him.

"Harry," Silena whispered as she pulled him in a hug. "I'm so sorry..."

"Don't be... I understand if you want to—"

He was cut off when she pulled him in a toe-curling kiss. "It would take a lot more than that to make me leave you." She said and kissed him again.

Harry kissed back, "I'm glad... And also don't want to find out what would."

"Good boy," Silena said as she pushed him on the bed. She was willing to put away the fact that he killed Peter Pettigrew. For now at least. It was clear to her that he did not enjoy it. Nor did he regret it.

"Someone's excited," Silena grinned as she felt his hardness.

"Not that I am complaining, but how did our tender moment become this? And we really should not be doing this in sis's room..."

"Oh, I am just trying to take your mind off of what happened. While there are different ways, this is the most fun one I know, hun."

"And if sis comes back then we are screwed."

"Personally, I think that this makes it exciting!" She said in a sultry tone.

"Are you guys gonna fuck!" Salazar, as always had the worst possible timing. "Might I suggest that you—"

"GET OUT!" The two living demigods yelled at the dead one, blushing madly.

"I was going to suggest that you _pull out."_

"NOW!"

* * *

A week had passed since the incident.

Harry and Silena sat in Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Shop, along with Luke, Travis and Connor. The three sons of Hermes were flown in from Camp. Well, except for Luke who had to travel by ship. Zeus didn't allow him to travel by air. Rowena was also present, as was an invisible Salazar. He wanted to make a dramatic entry. A thick layer of Mist covered them all, ensuring that no one would overhear them.

Hedwig was also present, eating Harry's ice cream when she thought that he wasn't looking.

"So... You want us to steal this golden cup from this bank run by goblins?"

"Yes, Luke."

"And if – that is a big, fat, if, mind you – we get caught?"

"Then I pay them enough to let you out. Goblins want gold more than anything."

"That is not reassuring."

"We could sacrifice Luke."

"What the hell, Travis!"

"You forget that I am an excellent charmspeaker," Silena cut in.

Travis and Connor looked at each other. "Dude! Who cares! We get to rob a bank! So do you have any plans?" Connor asked.

"Bro, this is Harry. His plans have plans."

"Ignoring that, you all will be entering the Bank by daytime, during the lunch hours. Goblins are not good at keeping track of human faces. Which is why they use golden keys as identity. Every Vault has an unique one," Harry explained.

"Meaning, if you were to enter with my key, you can access my Vault, no questions asked." Rowena cut in. "Which is why, a lot of old families install other means of protection. The Vault you will be breaking in to has an enlargement and cloning spell cast on the contents. Possibly it detects whether an outsider is touching an item or a family member. When an outsider touches it, it will enlarge and clone itself till the intruder is buried in it, literally. You will choke to death."

Travis and Connor and Luke exchanged expressions. "So? How will we get that cup out?" Travis asked.

"More importantly, why not steal the key?" Luke questioned.

"Stealing the key is out of the question," Harry said. "We do not what the key looks like, where it is kept, what are the defenses and the like. We do know all of this about the Vault."

"Anything else?"

Harry nodded. "You will need help. Who better than a fellow son of Hermes?"

The three half-brothers raised a brow/looked at him questioningly.

"I suppose I should come in to the fold," Salazar said as he made himself visible.

"GHOST!" Travis and Connor yelled, hugging each other.

"Quit that," said ghost said. "I am Salazar Slytherin! And I demand that—"

"Wait. Salazar Slytherin? As in the _Ultimate Con Man_ Salazar Slytherin?" Connor asked.

"I don't know who gave me the name, but yes! That is I, the greatest, and sexiest con artist."

"That is not something to be proud of..." Luke muttered.

"You are a disgrace!" Salazar yelled at his face.

"Anyway," Rowena cut in, "Salazar is here because Lady Hecate was able to pull some strings. Till date, no rune has been invented that detects ghosts by anyone, including the goblins. He will help you, and if he is as good as he claims to be—"

"What do you mean, 'claims to be?'" Salazar cut in.

"—Then you would have no problems getting past security." Rowena finished, completely ignoring Salazar's interruption. "Finally, I will be applying runes on you to allow psychic communication between all of us. This will be only for the job. Don't worry, no personal thoughts will be relayed."

"Does that mean we get tattoos?" Travis asked.

"Can you design mine as a skull holding a rose?" Connor asked.

Rowena rubbed her forehead. Salazar and these two... She was not sure who gave her a bigger headache, but she was regretting letting them meet.

"Sort of, and no," Harry replied for his sister. "Anyway, the plan is..."

* * *

Getting up to the Vault was simple.

Salazar, who had inhabited Connor's body, had tricked the goblin teller to let them come here. The goblin that brought them there was promptly knocked out by Luke.

'So much more better than that stupid golden apple quest,' Luke thought.

 _'Dad sent you on that one?'_ Salazar's voice came into his head. Luke's rune. was slightly modified to function with his mind blocking one. He had no idea how Ms. Rivers had done it, but he supposed that she wasn't a daughter of Athena for nothing.

'Yeah, why?' Luke questioned as they approached the big door of the Vault.

 _'I was sent too. I did steal one, and sold it at some brothel. It was a wild orgy!'_

 _'Dude!'_ Connor yelled. _'TMI!'_

 _'Salazar, why don't you stop your bragging, and get to telling them to open the door?'_ Rowena's voicecut in _._

The ghostmuttered an apology, exiting Connor's body and began inspecting the door. "Clueless idiots! Putting every wards, runes and other enchantments on full view! Well. Travis. Put your hands up, on that moon shaped symbol."

"This one?" The boy in question asked as he did so.

"That's the one. You, Luke. Yours on the sun."

Luke did as asked.

"Good. You have one shot of doing this right. If I am right, the door should open silently." Salazar said. "Now, I want you to tap them thrice, at the exact same time, in perfect sync. Ready? Then go."

The siblings looked at each other, before nodding.

 _Tap. Tap. Tap._

Nothing happened. "Why didn't it open?" Connor asked.

"Oh, that is just step one. We still have two through seventeen."

All the living demigods groaned.

"Hey, if it was that simple, then any idiot would have done it."

 _Sixteen_ _steps later..._

The mighty door swung open, revealing the absurd amount of gold and other priceless artefacts. Salazar was once again inside Connor's body. As soon as it was fully open, they spotted the problem.

 _'Uh, Harry? What do we do with that giant ass dragon?'_ Connor asked.

 _'What dragon? That guy didn't say anything about dragons?'_ Came the _reply._

 _'Uhh. Yeah. Tell that to the dragon.'_ Luke said.

 _'Then abort mission. You guys have no weapons. Abort and get out of there before it notices you.'_ Harry said.

 _'No way! We came too far down for this! You have to think of something!'_ Travis yelled. In his mind, of course.

 _'Harry is right. Our plans do not account for the dragon. Get out NOW.'_ Rowena cut in _._

 _'Ooh! Ooh I got one!'_ Connor said.

 _'Does it involve killing me somehow?'_ Luke questioned.

 _'Ok. I got nothing.'_

 _'I do.'_ Salazar said. _'You three will stay hidden. I go in, and find out where the cup is. When I return, two of you will have to distract the dragon will the last one gets the cup. I believe all three of you have the runes to disable the magical defenses on the Vault contents.'_

 _'That could work,'_ Rowena commented. _'But be very careful. I'd hate to explain to your father why he is one son short if the dragon eats one of you.'_

 _'Ok then. After I am back, the two Stolls will have dragon duty. Luke goes for the cup.'_

 _'Why does he get the fun part?'_ The Stolls questioned.

 _'Because we can't split you two up. You work best with each other.'_ Harry replied. _'Oh, and ensure that the goblin does not wake up.'_

With that out of the way, the living demigods hid behind the door while the ghost went in search of the cup.

* * *

It took Luke ten minutes to enter, go where Salazar was taking him, avoiding the dragon who was chasing his brothers, and retrieve the cup. After the Stolls somehow managed to trap the dragon underneath a golden statue of... Something (they didn't know what it was – it looked like some three headed snake) that replicated and enlarged on top of the dragon, they were able to get out relatively unharmed.

Getting up to the surface also was no issue, given all they had to do was operate the minecart.

Outside, they greeted Harry and Silena. Rowena had gone to get some more ice cream.

"Here's the cup," Luke said. "Now about the reward..."

" You want one even with the absurd amount of gold in the Stolls' duffel bags? Speaking of, where _did_ you get those bags?" Harry asked. He was genuinely confused as they didn't go in with them.

The Stolls shrugged. "There was a gift shop."

"Inside the Vault?"

"Yes."

"Whatever. Well, here are your return flights... and Luke's ship ticket."

"What about my promised reward?!"

"Here," Harry said, handing Luke a galleon. "Get yourself an ice cream or something."

"You douche." Luke glared. "Swindling people is my job!"

* * *

The day after, Director Ragnok was having a major headache.

"So let me get this straight. Three humans, who smelt like a god, were able to get in, steal a priceless artefact, and 6000 galleons from Vault no. 156. Which is the... "

"Lestrange Family Vault," the goblin, who had escorted the three demigods said.

"Right. Now, tell me, Curveaxe, how can we rectify the situation? You brought the thieves in. You, a goblin, was tricked into doing someone's else's bidding. And what's even more insulting, is that a human was able to fool you!"

Curveax cowered, Ragnok's rage was legendary.

"If word of this gets out, then no one will trust Gringotts anymore! Not only that, but I will be the laughing stock of all the Goblin Nation! Our only consolation is the Vault that was hit was the one that belongs to Azkaban prisoners! All because of your idiotic mistake, we are fearing the wrath of the Dark Lord upon us! Or need I remind you that the Lestranges paid him handsomely?"

"B-but Master, no one knows if the Dark Lord is even alive!" Curveaxe said, but regretted it when Ragnok struck him across the face.

"FOOL! THE DARK LORD'S ACCOUNT DIDN'T EVEN DE-ACTIVATE! OF COURSE HE'S ALIVE! I WILL NOT SIDE WITH HIM, NEITHER WILL I GO TO WAR AGAINST HIM! OUR BIGGEST VAULT HOLDERS ARE HIS SERVANTS!" Ragnok raged. He took a few deep breaths, calming himself. "How many people... How many goblins know of this transgression?"

"Just you and me, Master," the scared goblin said.

"Good," Ragnok said, and in a clean swipe of his sword, cut off the goblin's head. "No one must know. No one."

* * *

In the Malfoy Manor, things were getting better for the Dark Lord.

As Lucius explained that he had placed several sleeping agents in key positions throughout the Ministry, waiting for Voldemort to give the signal, the Dark Lord simply listened quietly.

"We will have to wait till the tournament ends. We attack now, we could face retaliation from France, Bulgaria and the USA. We don't want any extra attention drawn to us," Voldemort said. "As soon as the foreigners leave, give the signal to take over the Ministry."

"Of course, my lord," Lucius said. "Should we also infiltrate the Department of Mysteries? For the prophecy?"

"Only I can obtain it. Or Harry Potter. No, Lucius. I am not at my fullest yet. My power is coming back, slowly, but surely. If you figure out a way to lure the boy in and steal it from him, I'd ask you to wait even then. Once I have my full power back, we will strike hard and fast. First Azkaban. Then the Ministry."

"And Hogwarts, my lord?"

"That...is another issue. We'll need all the resources to take over the Hogwarts Castle. Given its fortifications, it will also require a great deal of planning and gathering resources to get it done."

"What to do with Dumbledore, my lord?"

Voldemort laughed mockingly. "What to do with Dumbledore, he asks!" Voldemort grinned at his familiar snake, Nagini. "The old crone doesn't even have the power to stop Harry Potter from leaving the country once this international event is over! He is but a relic, of a time long past. He should not be a problem, not when I am at my fullest. Now go and get busy with ensuring that no one knows that I am back."

Lucius bowed, taking his leave.

* * *

The next day, Harry, Silena and Rowena were in the Room of Requirement, sitting in front of a huge, highly detailed map of the British Isles.

"Given my research, Voldemort was only active in this area, hence his Horcruxes should also be hidden in the country." Rowena said as she took the Hufflepuff Cup and placed it in an intricate array of runic symbols, a lot of which even Harry didn't recognize. "Now, by activating this, the soul piece within the Cup will show us where the others are on the map. Keep in mind, these are general locations. But it will be a head start."

Rowena activated the rune.

Immediately, four locations lit up. Three were blue, and one was purple.

"Four?" Harry questioned. "Either this didn't work right, or one location has more than one."

"And the color codes?" Silena asked.

"Blue for horcrux. Red for the original. So purple means that Voldemort has one with him. The closest one is in Hogwarts, or in a 10 mile radius around here. I suggest you start looking."

"Possibly my sister's diadem..."

"Destroy it if it has been desecrated like that." Rowena said with a displeased tone. She didn't have any use for it as it is; but it sickened her to know that it had been (probably) used for something so evil.

"...Salazar's locket or necklace or whatever the hell he calls it..."

 _'I prefer the chick attracting device. Did you know that I got about—'_

 _'No, I_ don't _care.'_

"...And probably something that is of some emotional value to him, given that he didn't hesitate to desecrate Helga's cup," Harry finished. "As to how we are going to find them, I need that map my father and his friends created. There should be one copy at Hogwarts... Sirius said so."

"What map?" Silena asked.

As Harry explained Silena about the Marauder's Map and how it worked, Rowena made plans to ensure that he would not use it for less than savoury things. Like skipping classes. That would be very bad thing to do.

"Ok, but how do you plan to use it?"

"Modify a rune here and there and it will also tell me where Voldy's horcruxes are in this place. After I complete the map, of course. Sirius said that it does not display Salazar's Secret Chamber. And try and add the entire ten mile radius."

 _'Oh come on! Say it right!'_

 _'No matter what you say, we are NOT calling it Salazar's Pimping Cave!'_

"Well then," Rowena said with a smile. "Better get to work. You have it cut out for you."

* * *

 **A/N: Long time, I know. But I did say that I would require the time till August to update. I was originally going to post it a week ago, but I fell horribly ill with viral fever so couldn't complete the chapter. I am alright now.**

 **Athena's vengeful nature. Yes, she is talking about her hatred for the Romans.**

 **The robbery/heist may seem rushed, but that was because I am getting the feeling that the Hogwarts arc is getting drawn out, and going too slow for my liking. Which is why I didn't bother to put the Ginny trying to spike up Harry with love potions. I probably won't ever visit that sub-plot, so lets just say that she fails. It was rather obvious that she would, in the end. I know that most of you won't be happy with this, but if many ask for it, I will add an omake or something the next chapter.**

 **And if you are wondering where the Stolls got the duffel bags, I am just as confused as you are.**

 **Before I forget, shout out to** **imBored09** **for giving me the idea: if anyone wants to do a 'Reading of Son of Athena' just let me know.**

 **As always, hope you enjoyed!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer and warnings: refer Chapter One.**

* * *

 **A/N: Reviews! (jeez, not many this time...)**

 **kyuzo3567: Thank you for bringing the plot hole to my attention. It has been fixed.**

 **hellfire45: No, Harry is not a horcrux. It was taken care of in chapter one.**

* * *

Chapter Eighteen

* * *

 _(12 December 2005, Hogwarts)_

"Welcome everyone!" said the ICW Official, Jaques. Every single person was gathered in the grounds, where there was a giant square building, in front of which stood Jaques. "This is the second task in this interschool competition. The previous one tested your ability to think quickly while trying to outrun other contestants. This time, we implore you to take your time!"

Jaques paused. "This entire area behind me is a network of rooms. Each room has two doors. The doors can only be opened if you answer the question on the door correctly. It could be a trivial question, or a riddle, or even something straight from your textbooks. The difficulty increases as you move towards your goal: the center."

Jaques smiled as he heard groans from the teams. "And since there is no need for it, no magic can be used to harm or retard another team. If two teams come in the same room, then one will be teleported to another room at the same level. Each school may send two of its five representatives, who may or may not split up in there. But remember, as long as a single candidate gets to the center, then it is a win."

As soon as Jaques finished the rules, Harry knew that this was going to be one boring event. It lacked all the flashiness and the hype that was generated by the first event. Sure, they could have allowed dueling if two teams did meet up, but Harry knew not why they had done it like this.

Harry knew that he could go through each and every room in that building and still win. The only issue with that was, that each door would take you to a different room, with no way of coming back to go the other direction.

He was willing to give the other teams a 40 minute head start. That is, if he wanted to participate in this one. Harry had full faith in Weiss and Silena being able to tackle all, if not most. That way, he could sit back and slee– participate in a future other event.

"Hadrian," Ozpin's calm voice cut through his thoughts.

"No." Harry said without looking at Ozpin.

"Yes."

"No."

"I insist."

"Really? Me too! Lets go get some cake."

Ozpin sighed. "You will participate in this and I won't tell Ms. Rivers that you sleep in class."

"Why can't anyone think of something new?!" Harry groaned.

"You mean it won't work?" Ozpin asked, amused. "Then I can still tell her about the toilet paper in the teacher's lounge."

"... You have no proof."

"Neither did you when you accused Professor Peach of not marking your answers correctly."

"I did! I was supposed to receive 5/5 on that answer! Not 4/5!"

"I can't believe we're having this conversation..." Ozpin muttered. "How about this. You participate now, and I will give you Fridays off. For a month."

"Two months."

"One month and one week."

"One month and two weeks."

"Deal."

Harry and Ozpin shook hands.

Meanwhile, the remaining Beacon team watched the interaction with shock and in Silena's case, annoyance. Just what Harry needed. More time to slack off.

"Ok, the hell?! He gets bribed to compete? What do I get? I won!" Sun ranted.

"You got place _won!_ Eh? Eh? Get it?"

"Yang... Just stop." Weiss pleaded.

* * *

Just as Harry predicted, the event left everyone bored. He and Silena had entered. Weiss wanted to, but Harry explained that he worked with Silena better, and promised her that she could go in the next event.

Beacon had won again, of course, scoring a total of 23 points. There were no extra points awarded to any team, so 10 points for first place, and the 13 from the previous event. Just like Harry had thought, it only took him a minute at most to answer any question, and Silena was wondering why she had bothered to come along.

She would not have minded if the entire event lasted for more than 45 minutes, for them at least. And they had gone through 60 rooms to reach the center!

Hogwarts had come in second, as it turned out that though arrogant and narcissistic, Ravenwood was quite knowledgeable, and so was the only girl, Angelina Johnson. They had 11 points. 6 from last time, and 5 for coming in second place. By comparison, the two had finished in over 2 hours.

Durmstrang was in third. They had sent the twins, Dmitri and Sergei Vasilevsky, who had managed to defeat Beauxbatons' Maria Devereux and Clemence Leblanc by barely a minute or two. The two teams had 3 and 9 points.

Beacon still had the highest lead, followed by Hogwarts who had overtaken Beauxbatons and Durmstrang was in the end.

* * *

"Where did you say the map was? The one you left at school?" Harry asked Sirius through the floo.

"In Filch's office! Under the highly dangerous section or something."

"Yeah. I checked the entire office. Its not there."

"Then that means... Someone found the legacy we left behind! Yes! I knew it! Someone tried to, or is trying to, become Marauders!" Sirius yelled excitedly.

"You can't be serious right now."

"My dearest godson, I am—"

"If you make a pun on your name I swear on my mother's owl I will neuter Padfoot with the blunt end of a spoon and feed it to you."

Sirius gulped. "H-How are you going to—"

"Depends. How quickly do you want to find out?"

Sirius grimaced. "Fine, you've made your point. I will try to find my copy of the map... Or try and get you your Father's. James kept his in his Vault, I believe."

Harry sighed. "If its in the Potter Vault, then I will ask sis to get it. Its shut off to everyone but her."

"And you can access it after you are an adult?"

"Yep. I can't _wait_ to read all those tomes and scrolls in there!"

"Heh. Lily said the same when James added her to the wards..." Sirius had a bittersweet tone in his voice. "Oh, and my girlfriend keeps—"

"Silena is the one you need to go to for that. I am not the one who gives relationship advice." Harry said, annoyance slipping into his tone. How can anyone go from talking about their best friends, who passed away tragically, to his (probably failing) relationship? Harry wondered if Sirius was doing it to take the topic away from the long gone Potters, or if the dementors did more damage to his brain than they thought.

"But she doesn't reply to me!"

"Maybe you should not have asked if she had the phone numbers of any of her older sisters! While you have a girlfriend!"

Sirius grinned shamelessly, but there was a tad bit of sheepishness involved. "Well... Who else would be ready for threesomes?"

"Oh gee. Who indeed," Silena's voice cut through as she entered the room. She had heard enough from Sirius.

Sirius yelped. While he was just a face in the fire, and Silena could not really do anything, physically, but Sirius was sure that she could influence him to go and literally fuck himself.

Silena could not do such a thing (she could not create lust or love – that was Aphrodite's thing), but she had not corrected the man-child that was her boyfriend's godfather.

"Um... I'm gonna go now..." Sirius said as his face disappeared.

Silena turned to Harry. "Have I told you how much that man infuriates me?" Harry opened his mouth, but Silena quickly added, "That was a rhetorical question. Don't answer it."

"Three hundred and seven," Harry answered anyways.

"Gods, you're such a show off."

* * *

Chiron rubbed his forehead.

"Of all the things that you two could have done..." the centaur muttered as he looked at the Stoll brothers. "How. In the Nine Circles of Hades. Did. You. Buy a _gods-damned Nemean Lion cub?"_

"In our defense, it was quite cheap." Travis said.

"Very much so."

"Besides," Travis held up the cub. "Look how cute it is!" In response, the golden colored ball of fur that also had two big, bright blue eyes looked at Chiron, and mewled cutely, kicking the air with its small paws.

Chiron's head suddenly shot up, as his ears twitched. "Okay, even after a thousand years, I know all your little tricks. So, Salazar, what gave you the bright idea that you can influence these two idiots?"

The air shimmered as Salazar's ghost appeared. "Nothing escapes you, eh?"

"Travis, Connor. Do not heed his words. Even your father would think twice before giving him something."

"That's because I would steal it!"

Chiron rubbed his forehead again. Salazar and Hermes had a peculiar way of showing their love and respect for each other. Salazar's silver tongue and cunning was so good that it made charmspeakers jealous; he could trick you into stabbing your own eye out. It made Hermes extremely proud, and the god would set challenges for his (then) favorite son.

Salazar completed all but one of them. Salazar could not steal Hermes's Caduceus. He came close, but failed. From that day on, Salazar tried every single time he could get a chance to do so.

Chiron knew that the nature of the challenges made every other Olympian quite angry.

Zeus and Hera because of the golden apple he stole and then sold it at a brothel.

Poseidon because Salazar sweet talked Amphitrite into a date (no, they didn't go beyond kissing).

Demeter was never the same after all her cereals were replaced with cannabis.

Ares had tried to kill Salazar after being talked into selling his sword and shield for a copper coin. Ares failed because he was once again sweet talked into letting Salazar go.

Athena still had not forgiven him because he stole her favorite owl, Noctua. The owl flew back to his mistress, a day later.

Apollo had his Lyre stolen, and because it was safely returned, the god eventually forgave Salazar.

Artemis was most unhappy, Salazar bedded three of her hunters. At once. And stole her bow. No one knew why she let him live after that.

Hephaestus was the only one not affected by Salazar. When the demigod stole his hammer, the blacksmith simply made another one.

Aphrodite had her dresses mixed, her make up kits displaced. Salazar didn't do much, mostly because he didn't want his sex life to end abruptly.

Dionysus? Well, Salazar tried to steal all of his most precious wine, but the two of them sat down and drank it together, till both were drunk and passed out.

"So, Chiron. How you been? Still mad at me?"

Chiron looked up at Salazar's ghost. "Well, I am one step away from calling the Underworld and sending you back. I do not need you to... influence the kids."

"Say whaaaa~! I am an excellent example! Just look at—"

"They don't need to know that! You'll blow her cover! Again."

"Blow whose cover?" Connor asked.

"Yeah! We need to know!" said the other Stoll.

Chiron turned to them. "Children. You may keep your cub. But, only if the Counselors allow it. And I will only allow the vote if you leave, right now."

The Stolls ran off with the small cub, who was purring in Travis's arm.

"Now, Salazar. Why are you here?"

"Can't a student visit his teacher?"

"Except you never put any effort into my teachings."

"Ugh. I don't know who is the bigger buzzkill. You, Rowena, or Harry."

Chiron ignored the ghost. "You should remember that I can expel you from here. Unlike last time, Lord Hermes won't stop me."

"So, you are still mad? It was just a joke! And it happened 1000 years ago!"

"I'm not mad about _that!_ And we agreed never to bring it back up! I am mad that you would trick your own brothers into buying a Nemean Lion!"

"Its not tricking if they wanted to do it!"

"And I am going to expel you from here. Bye!"

"Wait! You can't possibly–" Salazar was cut short as he found himself outside the Camp Borders. He tried to go back in, but the boundry didn't let him. "You can't stop me! I always find a way!"

Salazar then turned, to see a peculiar looking Pine tree.

"Oh? Why do you reek of a soul?"

* * *

"Where are we?" Silena asked as she and Harry trekked around the Scottish Highlands. Rowena walked calmly in front of the pair, leading the two. All were using heat charms on themselves, despite the fact that they were wearing woolen clothing.

"That's Ben Lomond," the older woman answered, pointing towards the mountain that rose in the distance. "Quite a good hiking spot."

"I am quite sure that you didn't make us skip three days of school just to hike a Munro. If so, we should do this, like, every week."

"Quiet, brother. We are here to check up on something. Be careful, though. Just because mortals come here often does not mean that there are no monsters lurking nearby. There is a pack of hippogriffs, a bunch of hostile centaurs, cyclops, and of course, least I forget, Ice Giants."

"Hyperboreans?"

"No."

"Laistrigonians with a cold?"

Both children of Athena looked at Silena. The girl raised her hands in surrender, "What? How is a Laistrigonian with a perpetual cold an impossibility?"

Rowena shook her head and continued walking ahead. Kids and their crazy imagination. Harry replied, "Because... Well... Laistrigonians have better immunity."

"Brother dear, don't make me spank you."

"So, if its not Hyperborians, or Laistrigonians, then what are they? Jotuns?" Silena meant it as a rhetorical question. But the fact that Rowena refused to answer told the younger demigods the answer.

"No! Really?" Harry asked. "Norse pantheon is—"

"Hadrian. Please. The gods do not like to acknowledge other gods that are not of their own. They like it even less when a child of theirs discovers other gods."

"Even mom?"

Rowena nodded. "Both of your mothers included."

"So, if a Jotun comes around these parts, well, how dangerous is one?" Harry questioned.

Rowena looked back at him, "I would not worry. Jotuns will not target us; we are not einherijar. They stay away from Greek demigods, provided that they haven't left for Jotunheim."

"So, are we here to investigate what brings these monsters here?" Silena questioned.

"No. I already know what. Its the reason why we have to walk there, instead of apparating or taking a port key. Can't let anything disturb the runic cluster present. Despite its awe-worthy power, it is very delicate."

"Delicate?"

"Yes," Rowena sighed. "Given its location, it undergoes more than a hundred thousand fluctuations in magic energy that it feeds off. Add more, like the ripples of magical energy created by apparition or port key, it may get overloaded. A small chance, but given what the runic cluster does, I do not want to take any chances."

Harry seemed to be in deep thought as his sister explained what they were doing. What was the runic cluster's purpose? Why was it present here? And more importantly, why the hell didn't they bring a car?

* * *

The remaining trek up to a large cave in Ben Lomond was mostly uneventful. Sure, they ran into a bunch of centaurs that tried to steal their wine. Except none of the demigods had any. Then the centaurs tried to kill them, but Silena charmspoke them into leaving.

When they entered the cave, which Harry was sure was hidden from mortals by Mist, the two younger demigods were in awe of what it held. It wasn't a cave, exactly. More like a really, really big chamber. You could fit three Boeing 777 aircrafts and still have enough space for a football field.

It was, to put simply, a laser show of Runic symbols. Harry could see Nordic, Egyptian, Greek, Sanskrit, Latin, and some runes he didn't recognize. The symbols floated in the air, glided off the walls, and some were stuck to the walls and floor.

"Welcome, to the place where Hyperion is sealed. This... cluster of runes keep the Titan at bay. The complexity of this is so great that even I do not understand it." Rowena said.

"Seems... small for a titan," Silena commented.

"This is a control room. The actual matrix is all over the mountain."

"But how much time did this all take?" Harry had the same question, but Silena asked it quicker.

"Twenty years," Rowena said. "We knew Hyperion had risen again. We knew that he would strike, instead of waiting for his brethren to wake. He's impatient that way. So, this entire set up was prepared."

"And then you lured him here... With what?" Harry asked. "And why here?"

"We didn't lure him anywhere. He... what's the word you use in those stupid games? Ah yes. Spawned?" After Harry nodded, Rowena continued. "Hyperion spawned here. The Oracle had informed us where he would spawn."

Rowena then paused for a bit. "And this is the perfect location to seal a titan. Seven major ley lines intersect at this point. The seal is powered by the ley lines. Because of this, no maintenance is required."

Ley lines were mystical 'veins' of magic that ran underneath the planet. It was not known who put them there, or what they really do, or why they exist, and what was their relationship with magicians. Most believed that ley lines were responsible for humans to utilize magic, but no one was able to prove it.

Ley lines were of two types, major and minor, depending on their size. Minor were of no relative importance, but major were. There were places where these lines intersected. These areas were of high magical concentration.

For a place to have seven intersect... Seven was a stable Arithmantic number. This place had such high amount of magic that you could easily palpate it.

Figuratively, of course.

Harry and Silena knew that Rowena was not telling them the details of the fight. They didn't ask, as there was no doubt that it was an epic battle. People tend to die in epic battles.

People, some of whom, must be her friends and family.

But what bothered Harry was why bring them here. Sure, it was only meant to be him and Rowena, but Silena had invited herself. Rowena could have declined, but agreed to let her come nonetheless.

"Harry. Silena. I have some work to attend to. Your job, is to make sense of what this seal does, and how it operates."

"But... I don't even know half these runes!" Harry exclaimed.

Rowena handed him a book on Runes and Seals. "You have 3 hours."

"And if the seal breaks?" Silena questioned.

"It has held for over a 1000 years. It can hold for 3 more hours. And the failsafe measures account that if the seal is weakened by even a single percent, Lady Hecate herself would come here and fix the situation. Either way, Olympus will be notified immediately, and any non-god persons will be teleported out."

* * *

Three hours passed.

Good news: the seal was just as intact as it was before.

Bad news: it took Harry two hours and fifty five minutes to read the book Rowena gave him.

Within the remaining five minutes, he had to figure out the most complex runic array ever designed. Sure, he could now make sense of most of the symbols and runes present, but he still had to figure out the core, what individual rune did, and how they mattered in the bigger picture.

"Um... We're out of time... What does she do it that happens?" Silena asked.

"Uh, you know, the usual. Grounding, extra chores, possibly get an all access, fully paid trip to the Underworld."

"Oh... Wait, what?"

Harry shook his head. Five minutes were more than enough for him. He closed his eyes, "All right. Please don't distract me now. I need to concentrate."

Silena sighed. She knew what he was doing. A form of mind arts that let you shut out the world entirely. It was not necessarily related to magic; anyone who has the patience, high meditating capacity, and the aptitude for it could do it. Sure, magic helped smooth things along the way.

Harry had a very good advantage, being a son of Athena. His mind was far superior compared to the average genius. He was simply using it for its utmost potential.

Inside his mind, or rather his mindscape, four Harry's stood in a circle.

"Alright! Lets discuss why Charizard is not a dragon type later. Can we get back to the runes?" Harry1 asked.

"Ok, but I thought we figured it out?" Harry2 asked.

"You're an idiot. We figured out what individual runes do!" Harry3 replied.

"But the Charizard..." Harry4 muttered, only to have the remaining Harry's glare at him.

Harry2 took a deep breath. "What we know: the runes are divided into four units, like organs. Each organ does it own function, and together, they form the entire organism."

"Yep," Harry1 nodded. "We have set no. 1, concerned with Energy manipulation. Set no. 2, Time stasis. No. 3 is a stabilizing factor, and no. 4 is another energy manipulation system."

"In conclusion, I think we can safely assume that this rune—"

* * *

Rowena returned to find out that Silena was quitely sitting beside Harry, who was in deep thought, sitting cross-legged with eyes closed. She knew that reading the book she had given him would require almost all of the time she allotted him.

But she wanted to test his skills under pressure. More than that, Lady Hecate had made it abundantly clear that Harry learn how Hyperion's seal worked. As far as Rowena knew her patron, Hecate had either given this task because Harry would need this knowledge, or simply because she had nothing better to do than send her grandson on an educatory tour.

Rowena could not, for obvious reasons, go against her wishes.

"He's in that... deep thinking mode." Silena said as she saw Rowena.

Rowena nodded. "I did give him less than five minutes. I suppose it took him two hours and fifty five minutes to read the book?"

"You knew?"

"Of course. I needed to see how he fares under pressure."

"Got it!" Harry exclaimed suddenly as his eyes snapped open.

Silena jumped, "Calm down! You almost scared me out of my skin!"

"And pray tell, what did you 'get'?" Rowena asked. There was a small amount of skepticism mixed in her tone. It was completely intentional on her part, done to put him more under duress than actual skepticism.

"Dynamic equilibrium between the titan's essence and magical energy that is siphoned off into, and taken from the ley lines. That is how the titan is tied down. His essence is constantly being converted into magic energy, and back. The time stasis applied is to ensure that he remains alive. As his essence must be depleted before it is refilled, you don't want him to fade as well."

"Why not?" Silena questioned. "Surely a titan fading away won't be a problem."

"But it is. In this case at least. If the titan fades away, then there is no body, or rather vessel to fill the essense into. It would cause a huge explosion, that may very well blow up this planet," Harry answered. Rowena smiled. It seems that her brother did understand what the runic array was doing.

Silena blinked. "Dynamic equilibrium?"

"The two energies are being inter-converted, but at the same rates. Despite this, the essence depletion and recharging is not instantaneous. There is a small, a few nanoseconds long gap. It is, under normal circumstances, enough to cause a fade. But the time stasis takes care of this gap." Harry explained.

"Precisely," Rowena said. "But you exceeded the time I gave you by 5 minutes. So, some form of... punishment... will be given. In this case, copy down every single rune here, along with their uses and drawbacks."

Harry sighed. "That sounds like homework."

"Which makes it all the better. You hate homework."

* * *

 _(20th December, 2005)_

Harry had been given the worst news during the week. Something called a Yule Ball on Christmas. Sure, it would be fun for most people, but those people knew dancing. Besides, Harry wanted to go to Camp for the Christmas break. As did Silena, but that was till she learned of the Ball. An event where she gets to doll herself up and dance (probably in a romantic way) with him? Yeah, he could see what she wanted to do.

Harry's problem: he never bothered learning to dance, as it never interested him.

Sure, Beacon had such dances as well, but they were only available to him since the past year.

"So... What is the problem again? You have a girlfriend, means you already have a date," Neville said.

Harry grumbled. That was everyone's logic for some reason. Though he would not, quite obviously, ask any other girl than Silena, but that was beside the point.

"Well, you see, Nevvy, my man, for all his genius, Harry does not how to dance!" Sun said.

"Stop calling me Nevvy!" Neville exclaimed. "And what did you do last year?" Sun had told him about the Beacon's New Year's Ball.

"I... Uh..." Harry began.

 _(31st December, 2004, 11:45 p.m)_

 _Harry stared at the huge amount of calculations and flow charts in front of him. "I hereby conclude that the identity of the ever so elusive, mysterious 'The G-Man' is none other than Gabe Newell."_

 _"That seems highly unlikely."_

 _"Shut up, Malcolm. Besides, you'll know that I am speaking the truth when Half Life 3 comes out... Surely that won't take more than 3-4 years."_

 _(Present)_

"...I was solving a mystery." Harry finished. He had a lot of free time back then. Probably because he was single. Stupid relationship responsibilities taking up his time.

"A mystery?"

"In my defense, I was also pre-occupied with a lot of work that was pending."

Harry was referring to completion of even more video games, but they didn't need to know that.

"And you, Sun? Do you have a date?"

"Nevvy. Let me show you how to go to such an event without one, and come out of it with chicks on both your arms," Sun said with a grin.

Neville turned to Harry. "Does that work?"

"Heavens, no. He does get very well acquainted with their palms to his cheeks, though."

"You wound me, Harry," Sun said dramatically. "Besides, how the hell do you know that! You weren't even there!"

"Because Jaune recorded it." Harry replied.

"He is so getting punched." Sun declared. Harry, meanwhile, tried to figure out how did Sun not know of the recording. It had been over a year, and it was on YouTube for the world to see.

"How do you record something like that?"

"Right, I forget how technologically illiterate you are, Nevvy."

"I don't know what that means..."

* * *

It was the evening of the Yule Ball. Silena was quite giddy as she locked her arm with Harry's. He had an annoyed expression on his face, as he didn't want to be there.

But he could not resist Silena's honeyed words. She did not use her Charmspeak, and with the offer she gave him, she didn't need to.

Harry was dressed in a black tux that had made Silena drool. He hardly ever dressed formally, but when he did... Silena had counted at least thirty girls glance at him occasionally, and she had to steal quite a few kisses to stake her claim. By the end of it, everyone knew that he was hers.

As with Harry, even he was rendered speechless by Silena when she appeared in a red dress with a slit down it's side, to show a hint of a teasing thigh. While Harry did not do anything about his hair, because it was untamable, but Silena had spent a lot of time on hers, making it cascade down her back, and the top being made into a braid crown.

All in all, she looked absolutely beautiful.

Yang, who had agreed to go with Terry Boot (it had surprised more than a few people), was dressed in a simple white dress, and Weiss was also dressed in white, with netting underneath. She did not have a date, having declined everyone.

Sun was dressed similar to Harry, and was going around eating and drinking rather than dancing. He did have a date, a pretty redhead named Susan, who was regretting her decision to agree to go with him.

"You suck at dancing, even though you can move quite well with a sword... How is that possible?" Silena asked as she tried to correct Harry. She could see Neville dancing with Hannah, Susan ditching Sun (10 minutes too late if you asked her), who went to Weiss, only to be rejected again.

 _Why was she here?_ was the question on everyone's mind.

"Well, in hindsight, we should have practiced dancing rather than practicing... biology... in those 'lessons'." Harry replied, almost stepping on Silena' s toes.

"Yeah, well, that is a form of tango," Silena said with a joking tone. "But I suppose you might be correct."

"Might be? Ok, you hurt my feelings."

Silena giggled, which turned into a pained moan when Harry stepped on her foot. "Watch it!"

"Sorry. It won't happen again..."

"You have been saying that ever since we began."

"And that's why we should have practiced this."

"I didn't hear you complain about it back then, dearest."

Harry for once, was at a loss for words. He did wonder when was this going to end. Not because of Silena, but because he was quite sure that his friends were laughing at his poor dancing skills.

He was seriously thanking Tyche because he really lucked out with a girl like Silena. Who else had the patience to deal with him and his ego?

* * *

Harry was not in a good mood. The next event was announced, to be held on 2nd January, 6 days from now. But the part that bothered him the most was that it was a Dueling Contest.

A Team Dueling Contest.

With two competitors per team, Harry was sure that it would be Weiss and Yang. He could volunteer again, as there was no rule that defied this, but then Yang would be understandably angry.

No one liked Yang when she was angry.

Add to this, Sirius had sent his Marauder's Map. Which would be useful if it wasn't in three pieces. One piece even had a name written, some Maria, with the message, 'Enjoyed last night, new position tomorrow?'

That was one very forward woman.

Sirius had reasoned that Harry could easily fix the Map. While true, it set him back by 5 hours at most. It was not a big deal to normal people, but with Harry, those were 5 hours that he could have spent doing something else. Like be with Silena. Or sleep. Especially when Salazar was finally out of his mind.

 _'I'm baa~aack!'_

Gods dammit.

 _'Jeez. I can feel the love. Don't you want to know what I have been up to?'_

Harry did not, but he was pretty sure that Salazar was going to tell him anyways.

 _'Damn right, I am! So, after I left, I visited my brothers—'_

At that moment, Harry knew that someone, somewhere, probably was traumatized.

 _Five minutes later..._

Chiron was woken up from his sleep as an Iris Message from Harry showed up in front of him.

 _"WHATEVER YOU DO, GET THAT CAT TO STAY!"_

Chiron groaned. Rowena should really keep Salazar away from her brother. Chiron knew Harry to be smarter than this... Unless Salazar played on a child of Athena's fatal flaw about their curiosity. And given that Harry usually disregarded rules, and won't respect some boundaries that should not be crossed, Chiron worried about what Salazar told him.

Seriously, eight year old Harry had asked him if he slept standing up like a horse or lying down like a human.

Harry probably wanted to make the Nemean Lion cub (named Mr. Cuddles for some reason) a science experiment. Or, train it to help defend the Camp.

Which was a good idea.

Great. Even he was beginning to fall to Salazar's tricks. Chiron sighed. This was worse than the time he found out about the Stolls stealing about 6000 pure gold coins...

 _"Was it necessary to steal the money?" He asked the Stoll brothers, having found out about the heist. Chiron agreed why Harry and Rowena wanted to rob Gringotts, London Branch, but did not count on the Stolls stealing such high amount. In hindsight, he should learn by now that he shouldn't trust any child of Hermes in a bank._

 _Even then, Chiron didn't bother to look into the matter until he saw the Hermes Cabin equipped with spying and espionage devices that were definitely out of the Camp's budget, much less the Cabin budget._

 _"Travis/Connor made me do it!" Both of them pointed at each other._

 _"It doesn't matter. Stealing a dangerous artefact to destroy evil is one thing. Stealing money is another.."_

 _"But Daddy helped us get it past Customs!" Travis said._

 _"And past that one cop who suspected something!" Connor added._

 _"Mr. D let us keep it as well!"_

 _Chiron turned to the god, who had his nose in a wine magazine._

 _"Really, Mr. D?"_

 _Mr. D looked up. "What? They got me some nice LSD. Oh, what are you giving me that look for? Father banned me from alcohol, not LSD."_

 _"You... Allowed... Two teenage boys to buy an illegal product! The last thing we need is a child of Hermes to get addicted to narcotics!"_

 _"Oh, stop that! You did weed back in the day! A lot of it, I might add!"_

 _"That is not the point, Dionysus!"_

 _Seeing that the centaur and god were arguing, the Stolls slipped by._

Come to think of it, Mr. D never annoyed any satyr or demigod after the Stolls got him his drugs. Nor was he seen after the Stolls got him his drugs.

Chiron rubbed his forehead.

A high Dionysus... Chiron shuddered. Drunk Dionysus was bad enough.

* * *

Harry was grumbling as he entered the Room of Requirement. Silena, however, found it to be hilarious.

After fixing the Marauder's Map and tweaking it, the Map had revealed that one of Voldemort's horcruxes was in the Room of Requirement. It was right under their noses, all this time.

He should have checked this place first.

It took the two of them a while, and they had to split up in the maze the room had generated, but they found it. His sister's diadem. Well, Silena did.

It was rusted, but she was sure that the concentration enhancing enchantment still worked. People assumed that it increases intelligence, but why would a daughter of Athena of all people would want to increase intelligence was beyond her. It simply made you concentrate more, and sped up your thought process.

Something Harry really needed right now, as Salazar was still complaining about Thalia being underage. Apparently he visited her. She was sleeping, luckily for her. Otherwise she would have to deal with Salazar.

"Stop. Put it down," The ghost of Helena Ravenclaw suddenly appeared as Silena picked it up. "It has been desecrated once, and I won't let you harm it."

"Look, I, of all people, do NOT want to destroy jewellery. But this time, I am willing to. So please, back off," Silena said.

"I will not allow you to—"

"Oh, you found it! And hi, Helena," Harry said as he approached the pair.

Helena turned to Harry, someone she was sure that would not want to destroy her aunt's diadem. "Your girlfriend wishes to destroy the Ravenclaw Diadem."

"Uh, yeah. Sis told us to. That thing's a horcrux."

"I am... aware."

There was suddenly a loud crack and a wail. Harry jumped, and looked at Silena, who had stabbed the diadem with her Celestial Bronze dagger. She could disguise it as a hair clip, which was how she got it here. A black mist came out of the diadem, and dissipated almost immediately.

"What? You guys were arguing, and this is what we came here to do!"

"A little warning, next time? And Helena, what do you mean you were aware?"

If ghosts could blush, Harry was sure Helena did.

 _Ten minutes later_

Helena winced as her aunt tore her a new one, as Rowena had found out how Voldemort got his hands on her diadem.

Now, all that was left was to find the remaining four.

* * *

 **A/N: Normally, I would apologise for the late update. But I am getting busier day by day. So, updates will be slowed down quite a bit.**

 **I skipped through the second event as I thought it would be boring to read Harry answer a bunch of trivia questions. It was there in the first draft of the chapter, and it was equally boring to write. The Yule Ball was also cut short, and I am quite sure that I did a bad job writing it...**

 **Salazar's tasks may be a bit too unbelievable, but as he himself would say, deal with it.**

 **Stolls buying drugs for Dionysus... even I don't know what my mind cooks up.**

 **Hope you enjoyed!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer and warnings: Refer chapter one.**

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry this took almost 6 months to post. There was a lot of things going on and I had no time to actually work in this. Hopefully the next chapters will be out quicker.**

* * *

Chapter Nineteen

* * *

(12 January, 2006)

It was the day for the third event. The announcement of the event had put back the hype in the Interschool Competition, as it was duelling contest. The rules were simple. Two contestants from each team would participate. This was done simply to increase the number of participants. If two participants from the same school were put together on the arena, then one would have to withdraw. Besides this, international duelling rules were applied.

That is, no Unforgivables, no spells that permanently harmed the duelist either physically, mentally, or to his/her magic, and no physical fighting. Violation of these rules meant immediate disqualification, and legal action if applicable.

Apart from this, the duelists had to be at least 5 feet away from one another. Violation of this rule did not have any negative effect, as it was hard, if not impossible, to point out which duelist had violated the rule in the heat of battle. The duel is won if the wand is knocked out of the duelist's hands and falls to the floor, or if the duelist's shoulders touched the ground, or both. Outside interference also ended the duel.

Of course, running out of magical energy also counted as your loss.

The point system was also changed; it was winner takes all. Only the winner of the entire tournament would receive ten points, others would receive a zero.

For the event, the Quidditch Arena had been transformed into a duelling arena, simply by adding four platforms.

Beacon had sent Weiss Schnee and Yang Xiao Long.

Beauxbatons nominated Fleur Delacour and Yvonne Durand.

Durmstrang had Viktor Krum and Anatoly Malikov.

Hogwarts put forth Zacharias Smith and Marcus Flint.

* * *

 _Round One, Arena One: Zacharias Smith vs. Anatoly Malikov_

 _Round Two, Arena Two: Viktor Krum vs Yvonne Durand_

 _Round Three, Arena Three: Weiss Schnee vs Fleur Delacour_

 _Round Four, Arena Four: Yang Xiao Long vs Marcus Flint_

Zacharias was a tall, well built young man, but was still shorter than his Russian foe. Anatoly was at least 6'7", muscular, and had a very impressive beard. It reached up to his collar bones.

"Alright. You two know the rules?" asked the referee, straight from the International Duelling and Related Combat Department of the ICW.

"Yes/Da," Both said at once.

"Good. Now shake hands," the Referee said as the two shook hands. " Now move 5 feet apart from each other."

The two separated, and moved as told.

"Wands out."

"Now, I want a clean, fair duel. Any mischief and you will be disqualified. At the count of three."

Zacharias met Anatoly's gaze with conviction.

"Two."

Anatoly smirked. He knew he had to win, and he would do anything to unnerve his opponent.

"One."

Both got into their duelling stances. Zacharias had his left foot forward, knees slightly bent and wand arm aimed at Anatoly. His right arm was behind his back. Anatoly simply had his wand arm forward and his other hand at his side.

"BEGIN DUEL!"

 _"Expelliarmus!"_

 _"Bombarda!"_

The two spells connected with each other, and Zacharias and Anatoly tried to overpower the other. However, Anatoly seemed to give up the power struggle, but dodged just as the spells hit him. He quickly fired off another _Bombarda_ at his foe.

The _Bombarda_ was promptly cancelled out by a well timed _Protego_.

The two duelists smiled, excitement flowing through them.

* * *

 _Viktor vs Yvonne_

Viktor was a tough match for Yvonne. They were polar opposites in duelling as well as their heights. Yvonne was barely 5 feet tall, compared to Viktor who towered over her by a full foot. Yvonne was quick, and Viktor was slow.

Yvonne's spells were chained but weak, while Victor's were unchained but more powerful. She was quick to dodge and retaliate, but Viktor was an excellent blocker and could fire a well timed spell.

It was a speed vs strength in the magical sense.

It all depended on who lets their guard down, or simply the size of their magical reserves.

Yvonne was not, however, giving up on finding weaknesses in Viktor's defence. She weaved through his spells, about to throw her own attack, when a whistle blew.

"FIVE FOOT VIOLATION! BOTH OF YOU, MOVE BACK A FEW STEPS!"

Yvonne and Viktor looked at each other. They were quite close to one another. Sighing, both of them stepped back.

"READY? RESUME!"

* * *

 _Weiss vs Fleur_

Both combatants were similar in some ways yet so very different. They were constantly trying to find weakness in each other's defences, while trying to find out the patterns in their attacks and try and work around that.

But, the differences were also present.

One, Weiss seemed a lot more level headed than Fleur. Two, it was obvious that Fleur was able to put more power into her spells. Three, their fighting styles. Weiss was well versed in the new and upcoming 'combat runes', where one was able to cast a rune using their magic alone instead of using the traditional ink and paper. Fleur used the more older techniques of duelling with her expertise in charms.

All in all, it was a pretty intense duel.

Weiss would try and trap Fleur in her many runes, but Fleur was quick to either evade or counteract, before sending her own attacks at Weiss. But try as she might, Weiss's defensive runes that she had placed around herself were quite resilient.

* * *

 _Yang vs Marcus_

This was a duel between two brawlers.

Both did not think much. Just tried to barrel through each other's defenses. Not that they used any defensive spells. Both were using pure offensive magic, but the difference in skill was still quite visible .

It was obvious that Marcus did not know how to duel well. He started out straight away with overcharging his spells into 'maxima' versions, and was getting frustrated as Yang dodged and sent counterspells, that were regular bombarda's or expelliarmuses.

Marcus was getting frustrated at Yang weaving through his attacks and responding in kind. Yang was also beginning to get angry, as none of her attacks were hitting the target.

Both used a expelliarmus at once, with the streams connecting in the center.

* * *

In the audience, Harry shook his head. The four duels had gone off for more than 20 minutes. It was not an endurance case; neither were using any magically taxing or advanced spells. They were sticking to the basics.

Nothing wrong with that, but in duelling, the basic spells were highly limited. There were only so many combinations before you became predictable.

Someone like Harry could figure out the next move in seconds.

Harry glanced to his sister sitting in the diagonally opposite seating area, two levels below his. Rowena had come to a similar conclusion. Except Harry knew that his sister most likely had predicted the winner of the tournament.

But as he tried to concentrate on the duels, he felt his consciousness slip.

"Oh for—

(On Cocytus)

" —fuck's sake."

Harry came face to face with Thanatos. The Death God was fully cloaked, but Harry could see his red eyes glow menacingly behind his cloak.

 **"You still have not made any progress in finding the Hallows,"** Death said in a grim tone.

"It's not like you gave me a time limit before you sent me on the quest for the proverbial Holy Grail!"

 **"Holy Grail? Why would I want to send you deep into the Heavens, dealing with those nefariously uptight angels for a stupid cup that..."** Thanatos stopped when he noticed Harry's wide eyes. **"Well shit. You weren't meant to hear that."**

"Uhh..." He had so many questions right now.

 **"Back to the point. Why haven't you advanced in your quest?"**

"Gee. Did you annoy my dad, grandad, and great grandad and so on as well?"

 **"No, and that didn't get me anywhere, did it?"**

"Why do you want me to finish your quest so fast?"

 **"Do you know what entertainment does a death god have! None!"**

Harry paused. "But aren't you the one that brings souls to Charon? Shouldn't you be quite busy?"

 **"Eh, that was before you humans began to overpopulate. You lot died a lot faster back then, but it was easier to keep track. Now, millions die by the hour! I can't bring them all to that miser! Besides, Hades doesn't pay me shit for my job."**

"So...you are on strike until Hades pays you?"

 **"Pretty much."**

"...back to the topic. What do I get for collecting the Hallows."

 **"You can get the honor of calling yourself Thanatos's champion!"** the Death god said cheerfully. Or at least as cheerful as Death could get. Harry was pretty sure that some puppy somewhere just died because Thanatos was smiling.

"And what does that entail? Gods have champions and champions have some responsibility towards the god, you know. And the champions receive gifts and other perks." Harry questioned.

Thanatos ran his hand over his hooded face. **"Goddamned children of Athena..."** He then pulled out a book, _"Being a God 101,"_ by, no surprise there, Athena. Thanatos began to read. " **Alright, let's see here... Immortality and why that makes you better than everyone, no... Sleeping with mortals and why you should not use protection, that's not it... Aha! Champions and how to dupe them into thinking that being a champion is something important!"**

"Why is there a book on how to be a god? And I am right here, you know. I can hear what you are saying." Harry asked, but it fell on deaf ears. .

 **"So, I must give my champion certain gifts... Examples... Zeus does what now? Oh that's just bullshit. Hera... Gives nothing! I could be like her but then I refuse to be compared to a little bitch... Poseidon... Aha! I knew he had a fetish! Aphrodite... Really? Maybe I should try that... Hephaestus... Weapons, no surprise there... Dionysus... Drunk ass bastard... Ares... Bloodthirsty as always... Apollo... What do haikus have to do with anything? Artemis... Hunters are hers, obviously, Hermes... Free Internet access for life anywhere and anytime? Athena... Logical as always... and... HADES?! FUCKING HADES HAD A CHAMPION? AND HE GAVE THAT RAT BASTARD A SHIT TON OF GOLD? OH THAT'S IT! WHERE'S YOUR ASS HADES? IMMA KICK YOUR DEAD ASS!"**

Harry then watched in utter confusion as Thanatos stormed off. "Hey! Send me back! I have duels to watch!"

"Hi Harry! I followed you down here! Isn't this wonderful!" Salazar said as floated upto the boy.

"Well. Fuck my life."

* * *

Silena sighed in mild annoyance as she looked to her side to find out Harry had drifted off. The duels interested him, and he would not dare fall asleep, especially when she was at his side. Silena wondered if some god had stolen his consciousness again.

With the duels, Weiss had won hers, while Yang had duelled to a stand still, resulting in a double KO. Yvonne had won hers with a stroke of luck, and Zacharias had won his with a well placed Expelliarmus.

The three contestants had to then draw lots, to decide who duels and who gets a bye. Zacharias got lucky and got a bye, while Yvonne and Weiss had to duel.

 _Yvonne vs Weiss_

It was Yvonne's quick, on the fly thinking vs Weiss's patient, analytical thinking. It looked like a pretty even duel.

Under normal circumstances, both would still have magical exhaustion by now, but both of them had taken a replenishing potion which put their magic levels back to normal. Or at least, high enough for another duel. It was no where near their normal level, however.

The major problem Yvonne was facing was Weiss's defence. The glowing symbols she had weaved around her cut through any spell Yvonne cast but it had the drawback of taking away the ability of Weiss to attack.

The strategy Weiss was going for was quite simple. She wanted Yvonne to drop down from magic exhaustion. That way, she could conserve her energy for the next duel. Sure, keeping up the defensive rune she had conjured up actively ate away at her reserves, but she could manage for now.

Unfortunately for Weiss, Yvonne seemed to realize this. She could see some sweat drip down Weiss's face, and knew that she had to keep up the pressure. The only problem was her own magical core.

She had won against Krum when he had gotten a bit overconfident and lowered his defense at the exact moment Yvonne had fired a disarming charm; but this was different. Weiss was using magic that had the attention of everyone, given that combat runes was a new and upcoming form of duelling.

Yvonne had never faced any combat rune user before, given that there were none in Beauxbatons. Even on an international basis, there were probably only around fifty or so professional duelists that used combat runes. That was about 1% or less of total professional duelists.

Weiss was the only one who was a registered combat runes user in not only Beacon, but the state of New York as well. Rowena knew the art, but she was not registered.

Yvonne sighed. This was going to be exhausting.

* * *

"I spy with my little eye something beginning with I."

"Is it... Ice?"

"YES! How did—"

"Oh gee, Salazar, maybe because we are surrounded by ice! Or the fact that we're on Cocytus, the frozen river!" Harry yelled at the ghost. "Thank goodness this form does not have thermoreceptors or I would have actually felt the cold."

"Ok! Your turn!" Salazar said, completely ignoring Harry's angry yell.

"Besides, that was too easy. Aren't you supposed to be cunning?"

"Hey, I am cunning when it's useful."

"Like the time you conned the three judges into sending you to Elysium?"

"Yep!" Salazar agreed. "Or the time when we were building Hogwarts, Godric told me to build a staircase to the four floors we added to the pre-existing three, and I bought three hundred house elves to do it for me, using the money I stole from the Gryffindors."

"So the moving staircase was your fault?" Harry asked, ignoring the confession of theft. He had lived around Hermes kids long enough to know that this one may have been a tame heist. Especially considering that Luke's predecessor got away after robbing ten different jewellery stores in ten different cities.

Or the fact that Luke and the Stoll brothers robbed Gringotts.

"Hey! It was the house elves! Stupid things could not even get that right..."

Harry had a sinking feeling that Rowena had a huge hand in banning ownership of House Elves in New York. In fact, only New York, Maryland, California and Texas banned ownership of House Elves in the US.

He did not know why she didn't bother doing so worldwide. But then again, the elves' lifestyle was that of a slave. No one knew why they wanted to enslave themselves, as any attempt to study them ended in failure as the house elves would go into depression as their masters would keep asking them why they served.

It was speculated that they interpreted the question as 'why bother serving me, you useless elf?'

Harry shook his head. "Can't I just leave?"

Salazar grinned. "I could, given I came here if my own volition. You, well, a god brought you down here. You can only leave if he allows it."

"At least go tell Silena and sis that I am down here, and not sleeping while watching the duels."

"Nah, it's much more fun watching you squirm."

"Dick."

"Its more than seven inches."

* * *

Yvonne and Weiss were both panting. Sweat dripped from their faces, and both struggled to stand.

Yvonne had broken through Weiss's defence, but lacked the necessary magical power to finish her off. Weiss had spent hers in the defence, and hence, was in a similar situation.

It was a stalemate. But given both parties still held their wands, and stood on their own two feet, the duel had not ended.

In the audience, Silena watched on, not knowing how Weiss could overcome the stalemate. Sun and Yang were cheering her on rather loudly. Ozpin looked on in silence.

The Beauxbatons were also cheering for their own, and the other two schools were doing the same for their own favourite among the two.

Silena glanced beside her. Harry was still sleeping. A part of her wondered if she should wake him up with a kiss. She squashed it down; that was her Aphrodite side talking. She did not want to kiss a sleeping Harry in public. That may send a wrong message.

Weiss was struggling to stand. She had spent a lot of her magical energy in the defensive rune. She wanted to conserve her magic, but she had failed to do so, quite miserably. Her grip tightened around her off white colored wand. She wiped some sweat off her brow, and watched her opponent carefully.

Yvonne was in a similar condition. She almost fell to one knee, but steadied herself. She wanted to win, no, she needed to win. Beacon already had 23 points. The closest team to Beacon was Hogwarts, with 11. Beauxbatons had nine. Even if Weiss lost, it would not matter much as under no circumstances would any other team overtake them.

But this event did not give points for second place, or third place. First place only. This was done to ensure that the same school did not receive extra points, should their own teammates made it to the finals. Meaning, even if Fleur and herself somehow won and made it to the finals, Beauxbatons would still make only ten points, and not fifteen.

But Fleur was disqualified, and Yvonne had fought her opponent to a stalemate. The Hogwarts boy, Zacharias, had gotten a bye, and hence he would have a lot more magic in his core than she would. It wouldn't be a fair fight.

"THIS DUEL WILL END IN 3 MINUTES. IF A WINNER IS NOT DECIDED, BOTH OF THE COMBATANTS WILL BE DISQUALIFIED!" An announcer yelled.

Rowena looked on with mild interest. She knew that the only reason they hadn't been eliminated was the fact that they had just enough magic for one last spell.

 _"Expelliarmus!"_ both shouted at once as the red light shot forth from their wands.

Unfortunately for both of them, the spells hit their opponents' hands at the same time. Both of their wands hit the ground.

"BOTH OF THEIR WANDS HAVE TOUCHED THE GROUND. DOUBLE KNOCKOUT!" The announcer yelled.

Weiss and Yvonne gave in to their exhaustion, falling flat on the ground. Medics rushed in to take them away.

* * *

"Do you have a... Five of diamonds?"

Salazar growled as he handed over the card. "All right! I know what you are doing, you card counting bastard!"

"Card counting in Go Fish? That's a thing?"

"We should have gone with poker... And gotten Achilles to join us. Poor guy just roams the Styx. And probably Melinoe. For a goddess of ghosts, she is quite the party animal. Give me an ace of spades."

"Go fish. And when is Thanatos returning? More importantly, how long have I been here? Even more importantly, where did you get these cards?"

Salazar shrugged as he picked up a card from the deck. "I have no—"

 **"That... Did not go as planned. Who knew that Persephone could knot your balls in ways that should not be possible?"** Thanatos said as he arrived. He was gripping his crotch. He had originally wanted to kick Hades in the nuts and take his two millennia overdue paycheck, but forgot that it was winter, and the Royal Couple Date Night. Hades was angry, yes, but Persephone... Well, Hades hath no Fury of a Persephone scorned.

Salazar grinned. "Kinky!"

Thanatos glared at Salazar, and the ghost disappeared. And so did the cards.

"Please tell me you killed the ghost..." Harry said, looking at the manifestation of Death.

 **"No... Hades would fire me if I did that again... Stupid laws."**

"Unfortunate... Now send me back!"

 **"The exit was upwards. You just had to float. Not hard for an ethereal projection of someone's conscious."**

Harry vowed to murder Salazar Slytherin's ghost. He would find how to use the Soul Trap spell from the game Elder Scrolls, trap his soul in a soul gem, and... Wait. Won't that make a Salazar horcrux?

* * *

When Harry came to, they had already given points to Hogwarts, taking them to 19 points total. The remaining teams had their points unchanged.

"I'm guessing that a god took away your conscious, and you did not sleep." Silena asked him as she noticed that he was awake.

"Yeah... It was Death."

"Oh, I thought it was... Wait! What? Harry!"

"Yess?" Harry grimaced. He could sense the worry in her tone. And who would not be worried? Especially if you tell them that Thanatos wanted to talk. He hadn't told her the first time he and Thanatos had a chat. It had just slipped out right now. Something he cursed himself for.

"You're not dying are you?" She almost looked like she was going to cry.

Harry sighed. This was what he wanted to avoid. So, he explained what Thanatos wanted.

Silena calmed down. She was still shaken up, but at least her boyfriend was not about to drop dead. "So what is your plan for the Hallows?"

"Nothing."

Silena raised a brow. Like any child of Athena, Harry had a plan for everything. "You. Have. No. Plans."

"Ever since their creation, no one has come even close to finding them. There are no texts, no descriptions of any sort, regarding the Resurrection Stone. Sure, you could follow the line of possession of the Elder Wand, but the trail disappears in circa 1875."

"And what about the... Your cloak. Please tell me that it is not what I think it is." Silena said with widened eyes.

Harry smirked at her. "Yep. This isn't just any cloak of invisibility. It is _the_ Cloak of Invisibility. Passed down from father to son."

"Wait. Wait, wait, wait. I know your House is old, but I didn't know that you descended from the Peverells."

"Well... Technically I did. But when the Peverell numbers dwindled down, the last child was a daughter. She would have inherited the Cloak, yes, but her father was one of those 'you're a woman, and hence can't lead the clan' types and she did not get the cloak. When she married my ancestor, circa 1400, her elder son inherited the Cloak. And then it has been in my family ever since."

Silena took some time to wrap her head around the fact that Harry possessed a Deathly Hallow. Though that would explain why he was invisible even to the Hecate kids. Annabeth's cap manipulated the Mist to turn her invisible, and hence, it did not necessarily work on Hecate's children.

It all depended upon what sphere of Hecate did they inherit. If they were more attuned to the Mist, then Annabeth's Cap would not work. If they were mire attuned to Magic, then it was rather a fifty-fifty chance.

Harry's Cloak was another issue. Silena knew not how its invisibility worked. If it was any other random cloak of invisibility, then it would have been loaded with disillusionment charms, notice-me-nots, and everything else that made you look in the other direction.

But the Cloak of Invisibility was a fragment of Thanatos's cloak. Silena theorized that the Cloak made the user as invisible as Thanatos. The Personification of Death could not be seen even by gods, if he was careful enough. At least, that is what the stories said.

Silena brought herself out of her thoughts, just as Harry was called by his sister.

* * *

"So..." Rowena began. A pale, deathly white Harry sat in front of her in her living quarters.

Harry squirmed. On one hand, he was proud of himself. On the other, he knew it was just a matter of time before Rowena would find out.

"...There I was, walking around the corridors during _your_ class time, when I noticed something _odd_. Care to explain, oh dear brother of mine?"

Harry mumbled something under his breath.

"I'm sorry? Care to repeat?" Rowena asked. It was a rhetorical question; she knew what he did.

"I was manipulating the Mist to make it look like I was in class... Ever since I killed Pettigrew." Harry said.

"Exactly what part of do not misuse the Mist do you not understand?"

"The part where gods do it all the time." Harry blurted out.

Rowena closed her eyes. Her snarkiness just had to rub off on him. At times like these she missed the 3 year old Harry. He was such a cute, innocent boy... Rowena shook herself out of her memories.

"And I can assume that Silena is in on this?" Rowena questioned. Again, it was a question of the rhetorical variety. Silena would not let Harry get away with this; the girl hated his laziness probably more than she loved him. Sure, she could not do anything to Silena - Rowena was not responsible for her - but she could inform Edward to do something about it.

"It was not easy convincing her..." All Harry had to do was create a Silena substitute in the Potions class. She did not like the way Snape kept staring at her. It reminded her of the way the more brutish Ares kids would look at her or her sisters. Luckily, being Clarisse's best friend helped a lot in that regard.

Rowena did not let up her glare. "I'm sure."

"But hey! At least you fooled her for almost a month!" Salazar said as he popped up from the ground.

Both the siblings fought back the urge to groan. They did not, as the older was angry with the younger, and the younger was afraid of the older.

"Salazar, be quiet. I do not need your silver tongue getting him out of this. You have done so too many times."

"I have never! Well, there was that one time when he broke that vase... Or the other where he blew up the potions lab..."

"Exactly my point." Rowena snapped. Harry inwardly sighed. The potions lab accident was only an accident depending on the perspective. He was brewing a potion that was supposed to explode. It did its job. Prematurely.

"C'mon Rowena! Aren't you proud that your little bro could fool you, the Champion of Hecate, for at least a month, using everything you taught him? I've heard its a great sense of pride for the teacher when the student exceeds their expectations." Salazar grinned.

 _"Auferte exspiravit"_

"Oh, fuu-" Salazar promptly disappeared.

"Teach me that spell!" Harry practically yelled.

Rowena would have, had she not been angry at him. "Later. But first. You're going to write a 4000 word long essay on alchemical properties of ectoplasm. You should be done by the next weekend. I will be grading it. Get anything less than an A... And just see what happens."

Harry gulped. That was a lot tamer than he thought. At least he didn't get grounded. He just needed to write a freaking essay. Oh well, he could just–

" It should be handwritten. Oh, and copy anything off of Magepedia website... I will make you write every thing that is stored in that brain of yours."

Harry groaned. There goes Plan A.

* * *

It was midnight.

Harry had finally got around to getting the horcrux in Hogwarts. Sure, the map wad completed a long time ago, but given that a horcrux was in the Headmaster's office, he needed to wait.

This was the perfect time; Dumbledore was away from the school for two days, something required his attention in the Ministry. Breaking in to the office was easy; he was keyed into the wards. It was like having admin access into a server.

Luckily for Harry, Salazar was not with him at the moment. Rowena had taught him the spell she used to banish him, but it did not work if Salazar got inside his mind.

Of course, there was a bit of a problem with breaking in and entering. He could make the wards forget that he was ever here, even if he used magic, but Dumbledore had a phoenix. Technically, Hogwarts had a phoenix. Hopefully, it won't bother him; phoenix often looked up to Hecate.

To be on the safer side, he was using a flashlight, and not lumos. Of course, he was under his Cloak.

'Let's see here...' Harry thought to himself as he opened up the drawers on the Headmaster's desk. The first one contained a lot of papers. 'All of these are complaints against Snape... Speaks volumes about him, given that there are at least 200 in here.'

The second drawer had even more complaints against the resident Potions Master. And so did the third. Harry wondered why Dumbledore kept all these complaints even though he was not going to do anything about it. Harry took all of the total 600 or so complaints. If the Headmaster will not improve the standards of education, he would.

It was the part of him that took after Athena that was forcing his hand to do so.

After a while of searching, Harry found what he was looking for in a cabinet behind the desk. The cabinet also contained something else.

Harry reached for the wand inside, feeling a tingle that rose from his Cloak. The Hallows shared a connection, it seemed. It took most of his occulumency to not scream in frustration at the stupidity of Dumbledore. But a part of him could not really fault the man for leaving the Elder Wand behind.

Dumbledore believed that he had lost his magic. That was only true inside Hogwarts grounds. Outside the boundaries of Hogwarts, he could freely use his magic. Something he, and Rowena, had 'forgotten' to tell him. It made some sense that Dumbledore would leave his wand here, as he believed that no one could break into this place.

Too bad for him, Harry had a quest to do. And it was given by the God of Death. No way he was going to come back for it later.

In the shelf below the wand, he found his real target. The Horcrux. It was a diary of some sort. After undoing all the seals on the book that kept it from being taken out of the cabinet (Harry wondered why the wand did not share the same, but figured that Dumbledore was an idiot) , he flipped through the pages.

It was empty. Harry was disappointed; he was hoping to find out exactly how emo was Voldemort. Because no non-emo kid would ever call themselves 'Flight of death'.

Harry shook his head, and stabbed the book with his sword. Black liquid poured out of the book, but vanished before it hit the ground, as Harry used a vanishing spell on it.

He was lucky that the book did not wail. The phoenix would have woken up, that was for sure.

Five minutes later, Harry walked out, ensuring that the Mist would try its best to fool Dumbledore that nothing had changed.

* * *

(Olympus, Throne Room)

Zeus thundered into the Throne Room. There was a lot of noise coming from the Room, enough that he had to come to investigate. He most definitely was not sent by Hera under the threat of sleeping on the Couch. He was the King of the Gods. He did not fall for such pettiness.

He knew that the other gods were away. Poseidon was in his ocean, Apollo was in the Sun Chariot, Artemis hunting somewhere, Ares was locked up in his Temple, Hephaestus was in his forge, and Athena was in the Library of Congress. As for Demeter, she was weeping somewhere about cereals. Hermes was probably delivering hundreds of messages. Zeus knew not where Aphrodite was; probably in some bed with some man or woman.

Zeus was imagining her in bed with a woman, because he was a very accepting person, and not because he was huge pervert. He was the King of the Gods. He was above such base urges.

What Zeus found in the Throne Room, however, was something he did not expect.

Loud hip-hop music was playing, a bunch of Nymphs were dancing seductively, and most importantly, Dionysus was naked, running around with something suspiciously familiar in his hands.

With a burst of his divine power, the music came to a stop. The Nymphs noticed the angry look on his face and ran away, muttering apologies as they passed him.

Zeus ignored them, definitely NOT staring at their well shaped posteriors and how the cheeks jiggled as they ran away.

"Who stopped the party! I am the god of parties! I say when they stop!"

"Oh for the love of... Shut up, Dionysus!" Zeus thundered.

"Ah! The Spanish Inquisition has arrived! I did not expect them!"

Zeus for once, was at a loss for words. He was not even wearing red to be confused with the Spanish Inquisition! "Dionysus. Don't make me punish you again. Get down from your throne. How did you get up there in your human form is beyond me."

"No! No! No! You can't take me! I am innocent!" Dionysus yelled from atop his throne. He pointed towards a portrait. "Take that cow, fiend! And begone!"

"Are you high again? Because if Hera were here, she would take quite the offence to her being called a cow."

* * *

 **A/N: I did not spend too much time on the duels as I felt that they weren't that important for me to spend time on, and the fact that I needed to post this overdue chapter. Giving all of them screen time would have set this chapter back by at least one month or two. And that is also the reason for the Duelling Event to have a very anticlimactic ending.**

 _Auferte exspiravit_ **translates to banish ghost (Latin). Courtesy of google translate. Anyone got a better translation or name that is similar, please feel free to suggest.**

 **Once again, sorry this chapter took this long for me to post.**

 **Hope you enjoyed it.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer and warnings: chapter one**

* * *

 **A/N: Reviews...**

 **kyuzo3567 and azrielhallowed: Thank you for pointing out the diadem error. I have fixed it.**

 **LastManStanding616: Dionysus was banned from alcohol. That is all Rick Riordan says. Possibly because he did not want to include narcotics in a book series meant for children.**

 **To all of you commenting on the inconsistency of Harry's magic, I realised that I had dug myself into a plot hole when I wrote chapter 6, where he is dry within a few spells. I had explained why I did that for that particular chapter (I think) but this chapter covers that. Hopefully it doesn't create new plotholes.**

* * *

Chapter 20

* * *

In the Hogwarts Owlery, all the owls were once again having a really good time.

The son of the Great and Powerful Athena was in front of them, and he had a task for them. Each owl was honored to do it. All they needed was for him to say go. But he was busy arguing with the High Priestess.

Hedwig hooted frantically at Harry.

"That is just a movie Hedwig! No swallow can carry a coconut across the ocean, just like you can not carry 600 letters at once!"

Hedwig's hooting intensified.

"You. Can't. Physically! Carry! 600! Letters!" Harry yelled at Hedwig. The snowy owl did not take too kindly to that, giving his finger an aggressive peck.

"And stop that!" Hary yelled again. Then he got an idea. "Or I can simply fire you from your post as High Priestess. Surely my word as a son of Athena would be sufficient for that..."

Hedwig hooted fearfully, and stood in front him.

"Good. Now that is sorted out, I need you all—"

The owls started to hoot excitedly.

"SHUT UP!"

The hooting died down.

"Now. Where was I? Oh yes. Deliver these 600 or so letters to the Department of Education in the Ministry. But. Do not. Deliver them. At. Once." Harry said firmly. "Am I clear?"

An owl hooted.

"No! The opposite of that!" Harry said. "Okay, you know what? I am just going to leave ten here. Take these ten. And when it is time for the next, I will come and give the next 10, and so on." Harry packed the remaining complaints on Snape in his bag, leaving behind only ten.

Rowena and he had spent the last night altering them and duplicating them. Rowena had explained that while she was the head of International Education, she could not just step in as this was an internal issue. They needed to inform the Department of Education in the Ministry, and if they took no action, then she could step in.

The altering they did was to make them look like formal complaints that were addressed to the Department, and not to the Headmaster.

"Now. Ready?" As soon as he said this, a small owl flew out of its perch and would have taken the first letter had Hedwig not stopped him.

"Jeez... Hyperactive much? Fine. Take the first one. And what's your name?" Harry asked the small owl. He knew it was a scops owl.

The owl hooted back excitedly.

"Pigwidgeon? That is a horrible name. I am just going to call you Wally. How does that sound?"

Hedwig was annoyed. Only she, the familiar of the Athena's cabin councillor, should have the honor of getting named by Harry. Her annoyance grew when Pigwidgeon, now Wally, hooted a quick acceptance. The scops owl picked up the letter and flew out.

Hedwig then watched in annoyance as nice more owls took the remaining letters. She flew after her master, complaining all the way till they reached Rowena's room.

* * *

"Wow. A really big manor. Who would have guessed?" Silena asked as she stood beside Harry in front his ancestral house.

"It took a lot of time to convince sis to let us visit this place. Do you have any idea what it took?" Harry ignored her sarcastic remark.

"Of course I do." Silena said, smiling cheekily at him. Rowena had told her to ensure that he does not laze off. Something she enjoyed doing.

They walked up to the huge gate with the Potter House Insignia on it.

Silena tried to push the gate open, but it did not budge." Huh. Maybe it requires—"

 _"Bombarda"_

Silena yelped as the gate blew open. "Hey! A warning would have sufficed!"

"I had it under perfect control! Don't trust me?" Harry said, a mischievous look in his eyes.

"Ok, but why blow the gate open?" Silena ignored the fact that it could have blown up in her face. She trusted Harry enough that she knew that he would never harm her of his own volition.

"The hinges were beyond rusted. No way it would open by pushing, even if it did open only to Potter blood." Harry replied. Besides, no one lived here anyways.

Silena threw her arms up in defeat and followed her annoyingly loveable boyfriend through the blown up gates, up the (what Harry felt to be unnecessarily long) walkway leading up to the front door.

The door creaked open.

The interior was like any other medieval manor. A large living room, with two staircases on either sides leading up to the floors above. Behind, it opened into the dining room. The dining room opened to the right to the library, and the entrance into the basement. To the left was the ktichen and the pantry. It had a lot of rotten food that Harry vanished.

Unfortunately for Harry, and fortunately for Silena, the library had only ruined or illegibly written books. Otherwise they would be here for quite a while.

The basement had the armory, storage areas, and the cellar. All were empty, except for a rusty iron sword and a defunct staff.

The first floor contained the upper floor of the library and three bedrooms. Another large room was present, which was entirely empty. Harry guessed that this was the ball room. He then proceeded to decline Silena's attempts to get him to dance with her again.

It was for her own safety. Not because he was terrible at dancing.

The second floor had even more bedrooms and a hot spring.

Who kept a hot spring on the second floor? Harry did not know whether the person who installed it was sane or not.

The third and final floor was one, really big, bedroom. Both Harry and Silena knew this to be the master bedroom.

Harry immediately got rid of the dust on the bed and made sure that the bed was still strong enough to hold at the very least his weight, and promptly proceeded to lie down on it.

"What? Exploring the place was tiring!" Harry said to an exasperated Silena. She lay down next to him, putting his arm around her neck as she snuggled closer to him.

"Oh you big baby."

"Would that make you a–"

"Quiet, you. Don't make this awkward. Besides, your sister has given you an impossible task again."

Harry groaned. "Don't remind me. Get your ancestral house back up and running, she said. Redo all the wards, she said!" Harry rubbed his forehead. "She just forgot to mention that Potter Manor does not have a ley line connection so when most of the Potters died the remainder could not sustain the heavy magic drain caused by the wards!"

Silena looked at him questioningly.

Harry sighed. "Old family manors are run by wards powered by the people living inside them. The more people, the more powerful, and yet less taxing the wards are for the occupants. However, their weakness is that once the population inside the manor starts depleting, so does the power behind them. The Potter House has had less than 4 members for four generations till my father. Now there is only me. So, the wards crumbled." Harry paused for a second. "And when they did, this manor couldn't fight for ever against time. Every iron rusted. Every food item got fungus on it. The books were destroyed by all sorts of microorganisms. Et cetera, et cetera."

Silena pinched his cheek. "Better get to work, then champ."

Harry looked at her, annoyed. "I can't believe I am saying this, but I need Salazar for this task."

"Please tell me that you are not serious."

"Unfortunately I am. Even if I get my sister, the three of us would not be able to generate enough energy to power up all the wards. So, we need someone who can bullshit his way out of any and every rule ever created by magic. Unfortunately, that is Salazar."

" Bullshit his way out of magic? Can Salazar do that?"

"Salazar sure can, especially for a hot—"

"Complete that sentence and I will give you one of Helga's speeches."

"—respectable woman." Salazar came in to the room. "And are you guys going to fuck? Cause you should use some protection—"

 _"Auferte exspiravit"_ a very red faced Harry tried to banished the ghost, but Salazar was quick enough to enter Harry's mind. Silena was blushing more brightly than a tomato.

 _'Haha! You're not as quick as Rowena!'_

Harry groaned. _'You shameless bastard.'_

* * *

"Well at least the defensive wards are back up and running," Harry said as he and Silena relaxed on one of the many couches in the living room.

Silena sighed tiredly. While she was not as well versed in wards and runes as Harry, she still could restore the weaker and simpler ones, with Salazar guiding her for the more complex ones. For a shameless, sorry excuse for a man, and possibly the biggest perverts she had ever had the (dis)honor for meeting, Salazar was a very capable teacher. Again, if you could get past the many lewd comments about her body. Or the lengthy speech of his regret for not being able to sleep with her mom.

Now they needed to wire up the entire place. Like many other Manors, well all Manors that belonged to the Ancient Houses (excluding the Blacks; Sirius had installed it), Potter Manor had no electricity in it. The lights were from oil lamps, the ventilation was only possible through the windows, and most of all, no thermostat to keep the temperature of the room constant at a comfortable temperature.

Then, they would need to update the preservation wards to ensure that the electrical equipment would also be preserved. But, they would need to clean every nook and crany of the Manor before activating them. Preservation wards did not clean. They preserved. Meaning, dirty objects would stay the way they are.

Harry groaned mentally. He had simply asked his sister if he could visit his ancestral home. But she told him to get the wards up and running, as it would be a nice challenge for his brain. And his stupid past self had agreed.

This was not like running maintainance on Hogwarts wards. Rowena was there to speed things up considerably. Given that she was the one who wrote them, she knew exactly what needed to be fixed, and the most quickest way to fix it.

Harry did not have any idea when these wards were written. Sure, he could figure out how they worked and how to fix them, but given that he did not create them, he was forced to employ the longer process of diagnosing each and every single ward, then isolating the issue, and then fixing it.

In Hogwarts, Rowena had created a 'control room' from where each and every ward could be accessed. The wards in Potter Manor were designed by an idiot who had not done the same. Meaning, they had to run around, find out where each and every ward's origin was, and then get it back up.

Also, some wards were dependent on other wards. For example, the barrier wards were dependent on another one that was responsible for siphoning energy throughout the outer walls. Without activating the later, the former would not work.

"I really don't see us leaving any time soon," Silena said.

"Nope," Harry agreed. "This is going to take a really long time."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief when Hedwig came back. He had sent her to get Rowena. They could really use her help, and given the humongous task ahead, they definitely needed a lot of guidance from someone who was not a lecherous genius.

 _'Fuck you. I am much more than a lecherous genius. A really sexy lecherous genius. And the ultimate lady killer there is.'_

Harry shut him up by pointing out that according to the story, Ignotus Peverell did not take his Cloak off until he passed it to his son.

 _'You just had to bring that up, didn't you, you fu—'_

"Hedwig said you wanted a lot of help."

Harry and Silena jumped as Rowena apparated into the room.

"Uh, yes. Although I am pretty sure that I turned on the anti-apparitions."

Rowena sighed. "You did. But I designed the very first one. And the ones that followed. I know how to get by them."

Salazar exited Harry's mind. "Bullshit! I came up with it!"

"Oh, yes." Rowena muttered, before she added in a very bad Salazar impression, "Rowena, please design something that would keep that blasted idiot Godric from apparating in my office!"

"...Its still my idea."

"One brought about by, and I quote, 'to stop Godric' s cock-blocking."

"Both of you, please shut up!" Harry nearly yelled.

Rowena raised a brow. This was not the first time that he had shut them up. The first time was when herself and Salazar's portrait went silent because 4 year old Harry silenced both of them by accidental magic.

Rowena did not remove it from Salazar for nearly a month. It was a very peaceful month.

"I agree with him," Silena said tiredly.

"As much as I would love to keep arguing with you, Salazar, it seems that we have a lot of work to do." Rowena said in a no-nonsense tone.

Salazar grumbled out an agreement.

Rowena then turned to Harry. Harry understood what she wanted from him, and explained everything to her. Rowena closed her eyes in thought. "Silena, come with me. You would need a lot of guidance in this place, and from someone who won't perv on you."

Salazar tried to protest, but was shut up immediately by Rowena's glare. Given that she looked like a almost identical Athena, it was much more effective than a regular child of Athena glare.

* * *

Two days later, the four of them were done.

Potter Manor now had electricity, fully working wards that used the residual electrical power that was generated by the magically enhanced solar and wind power generator. The ultimate ticket to clean energy. Unfortunately, it was way too expensive for mass production.

They had hired some local satyrs (they had no idea until they accidentally came across a group) to maintain the place. It took a little convincing but Salazar was able to get a good deal. He claimed that he could have gotten them to work for free, but no one believed him.

But now that their small vacation was over, they had come back to Hogwarts.

Well, not really.

Much to Rowena's chagrin, Harry had argued that as they were out of the campus anyways, why not go and destroy the remaining two horcruxes?

Rowena knew that he was delaying the trip back to school. It was commendable, really, as the excuse was kind of legit.

Rowena had given him only two extra days. If they called her in due to any issues that came up, then she would take over, and Harry and Silena would have to return to school.

Harry had agreed immediately.

The first stop they had was quite close to home. Well, Sirius's home. Number 12 Grimmauld Place. It was rather too bright.

As he led them in, Sirius explained that he had changed the color scheme from a dull green and silver to a more vibrant red, gold and some white and blue thrown in here and there.

 _'Why? Why convert this into Godric' s color fantasty?!'_

 _'What do you have against Godric anyways?'_ Harry asked.

 _'He's a cock blocking asshole. Won't let me marry 20 women, even though I got the harems legalized. You have no idea how much pussy I could not–'_

Harry tuned him out, regretting that he asked in the first place.

As the three of them walked down the corridor, Silena jumped into Harry's arms as a potrait of a old woman began yelling.

"BLOOD TRAITORS, MUDBLOODS AND ROT! THAT IS ALL YOU BRING IN THIS HOUSE, YOU SORRY EXCUSE FOR A—"

The portrait went silent as Harry cast a _silencio_ on it.

"The fuck?" He asked Sirius.

"Meet my ever loving mother."

"You don't like her?" Silena asked.

"Given that she hated me for being sorted into Gryffindor, threw me out of the house when I refused to follow Voldemort, and has neglected me most of her life, yeah. I hate her." Sirius was uncharacteristically serious. "But I can't remove her as there is some spell in it preventing her from getting taken down."

Harry approached the painting, and got his wand out. He waved it over in an intricate pattern.

Both Silena and Sirius watched, transfixed.

Both were disappointed when nothing happened.

Harry sighed. 'Salazar. Why did it not work?'

'Hang on, trying to find... Where is it... Ah! Here! Dammit Harry! Your mind is a nightmare to navigate! I dropped a phone number that this really hot ghost gave me.'

Harry closed his eyes again. He tried very hard not to think of the fact it was possible for ghosts to not only have cell phones, but also that phone numbers written on (what he assumed) ghost paper could be dropped in someone's mind.

Then it hit him. That phone number was... Why did it have the code for Georgia? As in the country, not the state. Haery decided to leave that issue, and concentrate on the fact that his spell failed.

 _'Fuck your spell I need that number you dumb—'_

Harry sighed when he figured out the solution to his first problem. Stupid mistake, really. He forgot to take in the fact that the portrait may have a lot of protective wards.

"Well, sorry about that. Here's take two."

Sirius stiffled a grin while Silena giggled. His eyes told her everything she wanted to know; he had the same look everytime he made a stupid mistake.

Walburga Black's portrait watched in fear as the young boy before her moved his wand again, this time in a different pattern. The boy also took a lot of time this time. Certain parts of the portrait glowed; some red, some blue and some green.

"Red means do not touch. Blue indicates the highest magical power concentration within the portrait. It is its 'life'. Green shows the protections," Harry explained. "And you know the most fun thing? This highly complex magic that allows a portrait to get the exact same personality of the original person was designed by a man born to simple, non magical farmers."

Sirius barked out a laugh. The look on his sorry excuse for a mother was priceless.

Harry continued. The silencing charm had long since worn off, but the revelation that she was still 'alive'was due to a muggle born had rendered Walburga speechless. "Not to mention, it was my mother, Lily Potter nee Evans, a 'mudblood' as you so put it, was the one who could figure out how to defeat that sorry excuse for a Dark Lord, Voldemort."

Walburga gained an angry look on her face.

"But I have wasted enough time. Do you know what happens if I channel magic into the red area?" Harry did so, and the portrait promptly burned up. "It cannot sustain the magic. The red ares ensures that the magic is evenly spread and not concentrated for a long time."

Harry then turned to stunned Sirius. "There. All gone. Though next time, just use a gods-damned flame. That thing was not defended against fire."

"Uhhh..." Sirius answered smartly. If it was weak to fire why didn't his godson just burn the damn thing rather than show off some obscure work of magic? Teens these days... Sirius won't ever understand them.

Oh great. Now he sounded like an old man.

* * *

Finding the locket was not the problem. Sure, it was hidden wonderfully, and protected against summoning charms, but Harry was not a genius for no reason. He theorised that someone in this household had been under Voldemort's rule and he trusted that person with the locket.

Sirius knew of only one such person, his brother Regulus.

Sirius had no clue of its whereabouts, something that did not surprise Harry. But he did lead (or rather called) them to a House Elf. A really old House Elf.

Given that the place where they lived had banned ownership of house elves and Rowena's general dislike towards them, neither Harry nor Silena had seen any before now.

"Master summons Kreacher," the House Elf said.

"Kreacher, you know the place better than anyone. Did my brother put any locket here?" Sirius questioned.

Kreacher glared at Sirius. "Master Regulus trust Kreacher. Kreacher not disobey."

Silena was unclear of her own opinion regarding House Elves. She had met only one and it (did they have genders? She wondered) was right in front of her. And Kreacher was not exactly a pleasant being. She glanced at Harry.

Harry had a pocket notebook out. Silena knew not where he got it from. Probably conjured it. He was quickly jotting down something. "Broken language...suggests no clear education...bad clothing...perhaps they don't like clothes?"

Sirius sighed. "Actually, you set them free by giving them clothes."

Kreacher, to Silena's surprise, looked a bit fearful when he heard 'free' and 'clothes'.

"What?! How the hell do they do laundry? Do you place some note like, 'Not your freedom, but clean this up' or something?" Harry could not imagine the rich people of the Magical Britain ever washing their own clothes. And they sure don't have washing machines. Sure, you could use magic, but who would waste their own energy to do something that some machine already does?

"Well there was that one time when my cousin Andromeda forgot to do just that. Not that it mattered, as I am quite sure that the elf she freed was illiterate..." Sirius said, but focused himself." I am giving you an order, Kreacher. Bring me that locket."

Kreacher stammered. He looked in pain. Silena was concerned, but did not do anything, mostly because she didn't know whether or not to do something.

 _'Yep. He's in pain because he doesn't want to obey.'_

 _'How many Elves disobeyed you, Salazar?'_

 _'None, really. Disobedience is rare in House Elves.'_

Harry thought about it. This was magical slavery of sorts. But House Elves weren't humans. Comparing them to humans did not really seem fair to him. Each sentient magical being was different from one another for a reason, and Harry felt that they should be treated as such, keeping their traditions and culture in mind before passing judgement.

Kreacher doubled over and vanished, only to reappear a moment later with the locket. It was a locket of heavy gold with a serpentine S in glittering green stone inlay on the front.

Harry summoned the locket to him while Sirius dismissed Kreacher. Kreacher tried and failed to be disobedient.

"Poor thing..." Silena muttered.

"It is definitely not," Sirius said, a tad bit of anger showing in his eyes.

"Ok, stab, fiendfyre or killing curse. Which way should we end this sucker?" Harry asked the two of them to divert their attention away from the borderline controversial topic of House Elves.

Sirius looked at the locket. "If this truly belonged to Salazar Slytherin, shouldn't we get rid of the soul within without damaging it and then give it a museum or something?"

Harry looked at Sirius with wide eyes.

"What?" said Sirius.

"That was... Quite logical. Extremely surprising from someone like you."

Silena giggled softly, while Sirius grumbled.

 _'What do you think?'_ Harry asked the very annoying soul living inside him.

 _'Annoying, am I?'_

 _'You are and you enjoy it.'_

 _'...fine. I do enjoy being a prick from time to time. But I don't really care what you do with it.'_

"Now that it has been established that we are not going to harm the thing, Sirius, do you know the Killing Curse?" Harry placed the locket on a desk nearby.

Silena and Sirius both weren't surprised that Harry did not know how to cast the killing curse. Of course Rowena would not teach the spell to a teenager, no matter who that teenager was.

Sirius took out his wand and cast the curse.

The desk was set ablaze.

"How the fuck did you miss?!" Harry and Silena said at the same time.

Sirius sheepishly grinned as they put out the fire. He did not miss a second time.

* * *

The two demigods were back in Hogwarts. They would have gone for another horcrux, but they ran out of time. It was mostly Sirius's fault. He had suggested that they should kick back and relax.

By going to the nearest Amusement Park.

Silena had dragged her lazy boyfriend to the Park. They had spent an extra day. Rowena was not happy, but they got off lightly as they pinned everything on Sirius. Sirius was not around to defend himself, which made it all the easier.

In a way, Rowena knew it was for the better that they did not go chasing for another horcrux. With only two remaining, Voldemort was sure to have found out, and no doubt increased security around the remaining ones.

Probably even keeping them close to his chest. Literally or figuratively.

* * *

Silena grabbed onto Harry as they slided down a really long and large tunnel. She thanked whatever deity that came up with the spell that prevents dirt from sticking onto your clothes.

She was wearing a pair of really expensive pants. She didn't want them to get dirty.

Salazar, being the shameless man-child of a ghost that he was, had decided to take them to his 'Pimpin Cave'. Whatever that meant.

Silena had decided straight away that nothing about the Pimpin' Cave was good. It was damp, water everywhere and it was really smelly. Not to mention, the landing was quite rough. Luckily her loving boyfriend also doubled as a really good cushion that made her fall a little more comfortable.

When questioned about the entrance, Salazar said that he never bothered to create multiple entrances. Made it easier to hide that way.

Again, thank goodness for the existence of perfume charms. Sure, they weren't powerful enough to take away the smell of the entire area, but it certainly could when pertaining to a small radius around them.

Ghost Salazar led the two down a long tunnel, through a large door that only opened when spoken to in Parseltongue, into a really large chamber that housed multiple statues of the same person and a much bigger one in the back wall.

"If these are your statues, or rather statues of you, you screwed up as they look nothing like you," Harry said. Silena agreed with him.

"Cause they're not. I don't know whose statues these are. I bought them all for... What would be the equivalent price of this age... Well let's say that if I wanted custom made statues compared to the ones I got, it was costing me four times more." Salazar explained.

"Sure. You were worried about financial difficulties with that big-ass statue headin the back."

"Eh, that's just one of these that I hollowed out and permanently enlarged. As to the financial situation, well, I spent everything on the House Elves. And the hookers. Also quite a bit at that brothel. Wait. Six brothels. So there wasn't any left for me to get custom made statues. I had to buy in bulk."

None of what Salazar said surprised Silena. It did make her respect for the ghost go down well into the negatives.

"Wait," Silena said, realising something that Salazar said. "The big head at the back is hollow? Why?"

"That's where I keep my long, hard, super thick—"

"Ok, stop."

"—Drakon."

"I'm sorry, did you just say that you have a pet Drakon?!" Silena exclaimed.

"Hey! I'm not the first demigod to own a monster pet! I knew this guy who had a hellhound as a pet!"

"But still! A freaking Drakon? Is it Lydian? Aetheiopian? Maeonian?"

"Calm down! It is a he, and he is completely tame! Godric, Helga, Rowena and myself made sure of that. He is the defender of this school."

"That still does not answer my question."

Salazar rubbed the back of his transparent head. "Lydian, I think. He's still quite young, although he must around a thousand years old. Fun part about Drakons? They don't get lonely or miss their handlers. So no worries about him going batshit crazy upon my death."

Silena had her doubts. Seeing that Harry was calm assured her quite a bit about Salazar's explanation, but she was still skeptical.

If the Drakon did go batshit crazy, then she did not know it the two of them could take it down. All monsters and gods were highly resistant to magical spells that they used in everyday life.

To slay a monster, specifically designed spells were used. The problem? They required so much power that even a child of Hecate would be dry in 3 spells.

Instead, it was far more viable to use normal spells and overpowering them to their absolute limit. This served as a distraction more than to cause actual damage. Sure, some people like Harry could use regular spells to harm the monster by manipulating the environment or using magic to supplement their own abilities.

Again, it harmed. Not killed.

Every magical demigod knew this. But Silena was more scared as not even the monster-slaying spells would work on a Drakon. Their hides were impervious to almost anything. You could aim for the eyes, sure, but that meant careful aiming, a luxury that most would not get while fighting a Drakon.

"Relax." Harry put his hand in hers and squeezed gently. Silena smiled at him, appreciating the gesture. "I'm sure that Salazar is not about to call the Drakon."

"You kidding me? Rowena would resurrect me, kill me, use necromancy to reanimate my corpse, and then make it... make it... Uhhh, I don't know, I did not plan that ahead."

While Salazar could attest that the Drakon was safe, Rowena would not see it that way. Sure, she had a hand in raising him, but she always was, and still is, extremely wary of the Drakon. She would not want Harry coming in direct contact with him.

"So why are we here?" Silena asked after a brief, awkward silence.

"It's not like you two had anything better to do."

Silena could not argue with that.

* * *

Voldemort snarled on his throne room in the Malfoy Manor.

His red eyes had an unearthly glow to them. He could feel more and more of his horcruxes getting destroyed. He wanted to check up on them.

But the all-powerful voice in his mind told him otherwise. That his horcruxes wouldn't matter any more. He would be immortal anyways.

Voldemort had a new destination in his mind. He was to go to Ben Lomund.

* * *

 **A/N: Kind of a short chapter, but I wanted to post this as soon as possible as I will be very busy in the near future. Hopefully it won't be as long as that 6 month long break.**

 **Hope you all enjoyed!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: chapter one.**

* * *

 **A/N: Reviews!**

 **Guest (the one with the drakon review): I don't need to adhere to canon death of Myrtle. I have not put her in this story (yet) and hence I can change the way she died. In fact, if she was killed by Drakon bite, it would make more sense to blame Aragog as there would be a wound, as compared to the death stare. I think.**

 **EternalKnight219: What? That's just silly (secretly begins to type up a draft). In all seriousness though, I will if I have the time.**

* * *

Chapter Twenty One

* * *

All the four schools had gathered again at an arena that the ICW had put up.

It was divided into four sections.

"Welcome everyone!" said one of the officials. "This is the fourth event! We thought long and hard. We knew we had to up the challenges. So, here it is. The Elemental Gauntlet!"

The official took a pause as the audience clapped and cheered.

"Let me explain how this works. Each team begins differently in a different element and after the previous team is done. The sections are themed after the four elements. For our younger and less educated audience, they are Fire, Water, Earth and Air. Objective is simple. Get through each area the fastest. Additional rules are provided in each chamber." The official paused again as he let everything sink in. "Each school may send upto 3 contestants. As always, cheating will result in disqualification."

The official held up a hand as the cheering returned. Everyone quieted down. "We understand that the elements may be harmful. But, they are not as intense as they look. The fire will not burn you. You can't drown in water, and so on. Despite this, a contestant may fire a light into the sky if he or she is injured or wishes to quit."

"As to what the challenges are, well, revealing that would make it too easy."

The four teams whispered and planned amongst themselves.

Hogwarts sent Cedric, Marcus and Roger. Beauxbatons put forth Valerie, Yvonne and Clemence. Beacon had Weiss, Sun and Yang. Durmstrang had Viktor, and the twins Dmitri and Sergei.

Durmstrang team went first, entering through the Fire section and exiting from the Air. It took them 50 minutes.

Beauxbatons took a little longer, fifty seven minutes.

Hogwarts had the longest time, one hour and five minutes.

* * *

The Beacon team entered the Arena from the Air section.

It was a large space, and it was empty. It was designed to be at a very high height, and just the entrance and exit platforms were visible. Apparition was out the question, not because of the impossibility (it was very much possible) but because none of them could do it with enough accuracy. The rule was simple, get to the other side without falling below 2/3rd of the height.

"Options are simple. A simple air hardening charm would do it. It will create a temporary bridge," Sun said.

"Except the distance is too great. None of us have enough magic to do it." Weiss commented.

"Floating?" Yang asked. "We could float over there."

"Could work but we need to steer in mid air. The wind is stronger in the center." Weiss knew this from observing the previous teams. "Unless.. We use a harnessing charm on each other. Then we need to be in the right formation."

"I should not have volunteered and let Harry join..." Sun muttered. He was a man of action. He did not particularly like sitting around and planning.

"Too late for that," Yang said. "Let's go!"

Weiss came up with the formation. Sun in front, Weiss in the back, followed by Yang. Yang had the highest magic in the three of them, so she was concerned with propagation in the strong winds. Sun would provide directions and Weiss would ensure that the floating charm was working properly.

It was not a smooth sail, but they eventually made it across. They had lost a good 15 minutes.

The next room was obviously fire. It was a ver elaborate 'the ground is on lava', the only difference being that the furniture was platforms and the lava was fire.

The platforms were spread apart, too far to jump. They knew that touching the flames directly would result in disqualification. It was written on a sign that said important rules.

"Yang, clear a path through the flames with the _ignis propagationem,"_ Weiss commanded. "Sun, provide support. I'll keep the reminder of the flames off of us."

"You mean you'll do nothing as both our jobs are exactly the same?" Sun asked.

"No, Sun. Weiss will keep us cool. With her Weiss spells."

"Not the time for puns, Yang!" Weiss yelled. "And I will be putting us in a barrier to ensure that we don't directly touch the fire!"

"Or else they'll... Fire us."

"Goddamn it Yang!"

They fared much better in the Fire challenge, but took 12 minutes.

Next was Earth.

"The next door is underground. Use of any digging spell is allowed. Use of any spell apart from those meant solely for digging or moving under the earth are not allowed." Sun read the rules provided on the sign post. They were standing on a large area of empty ground.

After agreeing that they wouldn't split up, as all three of them must make it to the other side to advance, they started to use a spell known as _Metakiníste ypógeia_. One of the few spells of Greek origin, it allowed the caster to travel underground.

They had crossed the area in 8 minutes, shortest yet. The commentators claimed it was because the other teams did not use the same spell, instead preferring to dig underground.

"Well, that worked like a charm," Yang commented as they approached the final chamber, the water chamber. "Ya know, cause its a charm."

"Boo!" Sun yelled at the poor pun.

The Water chamber was similar to the Air. A large area was filled with water, with a door on the opposite end. The rules of this area were that they had to find the right key that opened the door. There were 4 keys hidden somewhere in the water. Only one opened the door.

Again, only use of water-breathing or any spells that allowed the caster to travel through the water were allowed.

They decided to find all the keys individually, and meet at the door. All of them used the bubble-head charm, which created a large air bubble around the caster's head.

This part of the challenge took a lot of time to complete, a little under 19 minutes.

In the end, Beacon had finished with 55 minutes. It was Durmstrang's first victory. It resulted in their total to be 13 points. Hogwarts had 19 points as they were last and hence did not receive any points. Beauxbatons had 11 points. Beacon was still leading with 28.

* * *

Harry ducked under the wild swing of the giant club that the Lystrigonian Giant held. They were scouting the second last location, the shack in the small town of Little Hangleton.

Apparently, Rowena's claim of 'no monsters in these parts' turned out to be bullshit.

Silena had her own problem in the form of an empousa, who apparently did not care that Harry was Hecate's grandson. She was as nimble and flexible as Silena despite the prosthetic leg, and was quick to cover openings.

Silena had tried to charmspeak, but the empousa was either resistant or immune.

Harry jumped backwards and fired off a spell in the Giant's face. It dissipated a few inches in front of the face, and did not touch the face itself.

The Giant laughed, before screaming and clutching his face which was melting quickly. The Giant fell on the ground, unable to maintain his balance. Harry was sure that he could not affect the Giant with his magic, but he could transfigure the air around the Giant into pure sulfuric acid gas.

Sulfuric acid was one of the strongest non magical acids. In humans, it could easily corrode away the skin, cause eye damage, and in high concentrations when mixed with other acids, cancer. But the Lystrigonian only suffered a major face burn.

Not wasting the opportunity, Harry jumped on the monster's belly and drove his sword in his abdomen. He was not sure about Giant anatomy, but he knew that in humans, the place he had stabbed was a fatal hit.

Either Giant anatomy was different or the sword did not penetrate deep enough, as Harry was thrown off by the monster, his sword still stuck in the monster's abdomen.

Meanwhile, Silena kept dodging the quick moves of the empousa. Both fought with short and sharp objects, be it claws or daggers. Silena stepped back to avoid a hit to her neck and fired off a spell at the empousa's chest. The spell did not do much harm, but it was a sufficient distraction for her to get in close.

The empousa snarled and made a wild swipe, managing to cut Silena's face as she tried to kill her foe. She tried to ignore the flash of pain across her cheeks and the subsequent blood that oozed out.

Silena glared hatefully at her foe. While magic would ensure that the wound would be healed entirely without any scarring, she still royally pissed off that her face was cut. With a roar, she charged the empousa, and engaged her in a lightning quick dagger strikes.

The empousa snarled and parried most of them, but she was sloppy. She was used to espionage and stealth kills, not full frontal assaults. She was also beginning to get angrier, adding to her sloppy strikes.

It did not go unnoticed by Silena, who used an opening to stab her in the stomach. She cried and turned to golden dust. All that was left was a fang.

Harry got up groggily. The giant was standing up, Harry's sword still stuck in his abdomen. Harry was now sure that the wound he had caused was superficial. The giant must have a really thick hide if the wound was superficial even though the sword was halfway inside, with the other half and the handle sticking out.

The giant laughed, realizing that his foe had lost his weapon. He slowly walked towards Harry, his face disfigured due to the acid. It was healing, however. He tried to be intimidating, making himself appear large and threatening.

It was his downfall.

Harry aimed his wand at his own sword. The giant stopped and howled in pain as an immense lightning blast hit him, coursing through the sword. Another spell pushed the sword even deeper, and eventually out through the other end. The spell was not a banishment, as it would not have worked as well, given the giant's thick skin.

No, it made the blade move on its own till it felt no resistance. The spell was commonly used by miners and cave explorers to estimate where they could get out from, especially if the cave collapsed on them.

This time, the Lystrigonian Giant fell for good, rapidly dissolving into golden dust.

Harry walked over to Silena, summoning his sword to him. He didn't bother picking up the trophy that the giant had left behind.

To Harry, trophies were nothing more than silly little trinkets. Until he could figure out why they were left behind and if they had a greater purpose than proof of the tall tales a demigod would make, he was not going to waste time on them.

That, and he was way too lazy to carry a large toe (of all things) around.

Silena tried to hide the bleeding wound from Harry. She didn't want him to see her disfigured face. It honestly was not that bad, just a few scratches, but she was not a daughter of Aphrodite for nothing.

Silena seemed to have forgotten that Harry was very observant. "I know that you are hurt. Let me see."

"No! Don't! It's bleeding quite a bit!"

"You do know that it will heal quickly? Cheeks are highly vascularized. They bleed profusely but heal quickly."

Silena smiled. "I'm going to have to start calling you my personal encyclopedia."

Harry just smiled back, before frowning.

"Doesn't this bother you?"

Silena looked at him in confusion.

"The previous ones had little to no protection on them. Only the one in Gringotts. But the remaining were defenceless. And here is this one. Too many defenses, if you ask me."

"Well, when you put it like that..."

They walked to the shack as they talked, but Harry stopped Silena from entering.

"Magical trap on the door. If you open it, it will trigger."

"How else are we supposed to get in? The window?"

Harry smirked.

Silena looked flabbergasted. "You're kidding."

"Not really. Well, not through the window. Through the wall. Traps like these have their trigger mechanisms placed on the doors and windows. All your conventional ways of getting in. Remember the intangiblilty charm that the girl from Beauxbatons used in the first event? Same principle. We walk through the wall, and avoid triggering it altogether." As if to demonstrate, Harry cast the charm on himself and walked through the wall.

Nothing happened. Nothing was blown up, no ghost summoned, nor a monster attack.

Silena sighed. Trap placement was hard. She cast the charm on herself and followed Harry.

The shack was quite dirty inside. No one had been here for decades, probably.

If it was anyone else, Harry would have had a hard time identifying the horcrux. But this was Lord Voldemort. An idiot who could have gotten away with it if he had used seven random stones and thrown said stones in any direction. No one, including himself would have been able to give them away.

But the ring was placed on an ornate pedestal. It was encased in another trap. Harry had noticed the rune on the ring.

Silena looked at the ring. "Is it just me or the ring wants me to put it on my finger?"

"That ring has a rotting curse set on it. It will cause slow, steady necrosis of your hands and spread all over the body. So do not wear it. It has no counter-curse, and even modern magical medicine cannot reverse it." Harry explained. He had hardly even felt the compulsion. Silena was, and had to be, mentally powerful. She was a very good charmspeaker, and the most effective charmspeakers had a will of iron.

Otherwise they would not be able to overpower their target's mind and gain control of their desires.

"I am assuming that we are going to destroy this one by a long distance method?"

Harry nodded. He closed his eyes. Inside his mind, he was back in Grimmauld Place. Sirius was casting the killing curse at the locket. The image in his brain paused just as Harry visualised the killing curse come out of Sirius's wand.

 _'Wand movement is unnecessary in spell casting. He showed the intent to kill, and magic obeyed. My own research suggests that the intent to kill must be very powerful. I hope this is enough...'_

 _'Very good. Give me control, or let me in to your deeper mind. I will teach you.'_

 _'...not doing either of those things.'_

Harry paused for a moment. Wait. He could get close, as long as the magic didn't think he was close. These traps were designed to kill, but they had shoddy trigger mechanisms. He just needed to get close, destroy the ring, and get back before the ring could detect he was there.

Or he could just levitate the ring near him and trap it in time so that it wouldn't fall to the ground and slice the damned thing with his sword.

Shaking his head, Harry did just that.

The ring fell to the ground, now rendered harmless. He picked it up, examining it. He wanted to ensure that it was no longer cursed. He raised a brow when he noticed the Deathly Hallows symbol engraved on the stone embedded in the ring.

Harry's confusion rose when the Invisibility Cloak that he always wore underneath his regular clothes did not even give so much as a tingle when he held the stone. Given the Cloak had practically confirmed the Elder Wand, and not this stone, it meant that the stone was not the Resurrection Stone.

"What...?" Harry whispered as blue light came from the stone and formed a familiar outline of Lily Potter.

Silena was also surprised to see the ghostly visage. "You found it..." she whispered.

"That can't be," Harry muttered. "I gave the stone no indication that I wanted her summoned... But it did so anyways..."

It was then he realized that the ghost was not talking. She was just staring blankly. Harry waved his hand, but nothing happened.

Concentrating his magic on the stone, he transferred some into it.

"Harry? Is that you?" Lily spoke all of a sudden.

Harry's eyes widened. Could this be..

 _'No. It is a cheap imitation. An illusion. You are holding a cursed object.'_

Harry ignored Salazar. Even Silena had gone to the background. He was zeroed in on his mother. He cracked a smile. "Mum..."

 _'SNAP OUT OF IT!'_

When Salazar saw that Harry ignored him further, he left his mind and entered Silena's.

"Oh, my sweet baby boy... I miss you so much! Why don't you join me?"

Silena blinked her eyes when Salazar entered her mind.

 _'You Aphrodite girls claim that love is the strongest right?'_

Silena replied with a yes. She was quite confused with Harry's mother and his current situation.

 _'Then prove it. Harry is holding a cursed object. Some lesser god put it there. Which is why it went right past his Occlumency. You will have to break it.'_

 _'How?_ '

"Mum.. I don't understand... Why? Why did I survive? You... You traded yourself for me! I was an unknown variable!"

Lily's ghost smiled. Silena could see it was a very twisted smile. Harry could not. "My son... Come here! We will make everything right."

"How? How could you possibly make it alright?"

"You just need to come to me... You, me and James! We can be a happy family!"

Harry's eyes glazed over. Harry lifted his sword. A single stab and they would be a family.

Silena screamed. "Harry, don't!"

Harry faltered.

Ghost Lily glared at Silena. "She wishes to come between you and me."

Silena mustered as much Charmspeak in her voice as possible. "Snap out of it! She looks like your mother! She is not your mother! Come back to me. Please." She broke her voice at 'please' deliberately for added effect. Salazar told her that she needed to pour a lot of emotion into her voice.

Sure, she loved Harry. But she found it hard to use only charmspeak to break him out of the illusion. Which is why she needed to act, and hope it worked.

Harry blinked. What was he doing again? He looked at the stone and the ghost of Lily.

Silena continued her improv speech. "I need you to believe in me. She wants you to kill yourself."

 _'Wow. Your acting needs work.'_

 _'Shut up!'_

The sword went higher up, poised to strike. Silena grew desperate to save him.

"I can't go on without you! Please wake up and vanquish this monster!" This time, she wasn't acting. She really would be lost if Harry died.

 _'You may not want to call your boyfriend's mother's lookalike a monster. I mean have you seen that figure? That ass should get her a honorary membership in your cabin.'_

 _' Salazar, let me concentrate, or so help me I will—'_

 _'There is literally nothing you can threaten me with.'_

Silena ignored the ghost. It seemed her sad speech had some effect. Harry was showing signs of waking up from the illusion. But to her horror, and Ghost Lily's delight, Harry brought the sword down to his stomach.

A tear escaped her eyes, Silena fully ready to start crying. She rushed to him, but stopped when she heard him scream and then laugh.

Harry brought his sword down. Only the tip had pierced him.

"You almost got me." He turned to Silena, who had a mixed look of anger and relief. "Thank you for waking me from the curse. I would be dead if not for you."

The sincerity in his voice made her blush.

"No! We will be—"

"I get it now. I was cursed the second I transferred some of my magic into the stone. You played on one of my fatal flaws: curiosity. Good job."

Ghost Lily snarled.

"You aren't Lily Potter. You are just a cheap imitation." Harry threw the Stone up. "And now you won't be cursing anyone."

A silent reducto blasted the stone to shreds. The ghost promptly disappeared.

"HADRIAN POTTER!"

Harry winced at Silena's scream. He probably should have warned her... The sword hadn't even made it past his skin. It was just necessary to feel some pain to break free of the illusion.

 _'Salazar, a little help? Salazar? You cowardly fuck!'_

With a sigh, Harry resigned himself to the incoming barrage of emotional blackmail and 'How could you make me worry, I am such a loving girlfriend to you' speech.

* * *

"I don't understand," Harry told Rowena. "Why would anyone replace the actual stone with a cursed one?"

"Probably to fool people into believing that they have found the stone. Or to cause chaos. The goddess of discord, Eris, or her children, or her legacy may have done it just for laughs."

"You know where the actual stone is?"

Rowena shook her head. "I think if anyone knows it is your grandma."

Harry was silent. He had never met Hecate. He had heard of her through Rowena. She was a strict, stoic goddess according to Rowena. If Rowena called her strict and stoic, Harry knew not what to expect.

"How do I talk to her?"

"I can't call her. It is disrespectful. But I can tell you how. You are not bound by the same rules as me."

Harry smiled. "Go on."

XXX

"So gods and goddesses can be... Summoned?" Silena was skeptical, and rightly so. If they could be summoned, then why did they hide and be 'mysterious' from the first place?

"Technically, this is a very complicated Iris Message. It won't summon the god or goddess, but a part of their consciousness. It would be equivalent to talking to them on the phone."

"And the catch?"

"It works on blood and bone."

"Blood magic?"

Harry smiled. "Kind of. But the book sis gave me that describes the ritual doesn't specify whose blood and whose bones. So I bought ten goats from the local butcher and killed them. Drained some blood and sold the meat to another butcher. I re-bought their bones."

Silena blinked. "That's... Dark."

"Quite. Now then..." Harry opened the book.

"...blood and bones, check. Creepy ass summoning circle?"

Harry looked at the circle he had drawn with the blood.

"Check. Wood taken from a poplar and half burned?"

"Check," Silena answered. Luckily there were more than a few poplars near the Black Lake.

"Finally, three drops of blood taken from a virgin who is a part of a archery appreciation group? Where the fuck am I going to find that?!"

"Oh, no way it says that," Silena said as she took the book and read it.

"Does the book imply that we go to the Hunters and take some blood from them?" She said as she read it.

Harry groaned. "We hit a road block!"

Silena wondered if her blood would do. She liked archery. She was not very good at it, but she appreciated it quite a bit. But given she had gotten very intimate with Harry she was not sure it would work. She was still pure in the sense that they hadn't done the sex. Yet. They had only gone as far as—

"Oops! My bad! That part is another ritual. I flipped two pages at once by accident." Harry said sheepishly. The first few steps were the same, interestingly enough.

Harry re-read the ritual again. "We just need a... Drop of blood of a dog that has been a very good boy." Harry threw his arms up.

"Who in the nine circles of Hades comes up with these? And why do gods follow this?!"

Silena grinned, "I just think that this is one very elaborate prank that has been ongoing for centuries. They probably want to see if anyone is stupid enough to try this."

Harry blinked. "I... How come I didn't think of that!"

"I think the words you are looking for are 'that was' and 'smart, Silena.'"

"That was and smart? Poor grammar." Harry muttered. He received a whack on the head. He kept it in mind that he should come up with a similar book just to see if he could fool people into believing that the rituals he put in there were real.

Probably name it something like 'Forbidden Ritual Book' or something.

Back to the main point, they needed to find a dog. A good dog. Surely that can't be hard, right?

Short answer: it was.

Long answer: there were very few people who owned a pet in Hogsmeade, or even in the entire 5 mile radius surrounding the Hogwarts Castle. When the two demigods finally found a dog, the owner refused to give them access. Turns out the dog was rabid, but the owner had kept him anyways.

In the end, Harry had to consult his sister, which he did not want to do. It was a pride thing.

Rowena had then made him feel very stupid by pointing out that the gameskeeper, Hagrid, owned a pet dog.

It had been very easy to convince the half giant to lend some of Fang's blood to them.

* * *

Harry grumbled as he put the vial of Fang's blood in the centre of the 'creepy ass summoning circle.' Silena was also feeling stupid about the incident, so she didn't poke fun at him.

Both had made a promise to each other that they never made that particular mistake. They then arranged the other items as was directed by the book.

Then they waited.

"Did we miss something?" Silena asked.

"I am guessing that we need to activate it somehow. Either that or this entire thing was a colossal waste of time." Harry replied.

They both had tried to channel magic into the circle, but it didn't work.

Harry open the book again. "No activation process given here..." Harry continued to flip through the book, not noticing the glow of the magic circle as a hooded woman appeared.

She was of average height, and her hooded robes loosely covered her body. She had pale, smooth skin. It was unnaturally pale, as if she was severely anemic.

Silena bowed, "Lady Hecate!"

"Useless book!" Harry muttered as he continued to flip through.

Hecate was amused by her grandson's antics. "I am already here, child," she said. Her voice was low, and had an air of mystery to it.

"Give me a minute," Harry said, not looking up from the book. "Found it! Activation of a ritual. Simply use a... Really?! A fricking monkey wrench?"

Silena blushed in embarrassment. This was the man she loved. A moronic genius who had not even realised that his grandmother was right in front of him.

Hecate snapped her fingers. The book dissolved into mist in Harry's hands.

He finally looked up.

Realization set in his eyes as quickly as ever, and he blushed and smiled sheepishly. "Uh... Hi?"

* * *

"So that is when I told your sister to send me the details of Merlin's debauchery over IM. Longest IM ever that I received," Hecate said with a laugh as she sat down with her grandson.

Harry was confused. Rowena had told him that Hecate was strict, and she was not the type to joke around. This was completely different.

"That is all nice and all, but I just want to know what happened to the Resurrection Stone."

Harry had repeated the same thing eight times. Hecate had waived him off each time, claiming that she wanted to spend time with her only grandson. She had even frozen Silena in time for the same reason.

Hecate just gave him a smile. "Let me tell you another story."

Harry groaned, which was ignored.

"A young alchemist, who was trying to achieve the impossible—"

"I know this one. It's the story of how Nicholas Flamel made the philosopher's stone," Harry interjected.

Hecate nodded. "What you don't know is that the Philosopher's Stone is worthless. A simple transfiguration is all it takes to turn Lead to Gold. A transmutation to finalise it or a conjuration to summon it yourselves. No, what made it famous was the Elixir of Life. But no potion could power the soul to stay in the living world for so long..."

"You are saying that... Nicholas Flamel's Philosopher's Stone.. Is the Resurrection Stone?"

Hecate nodded. "The three brothers were offered gifts by Thanatos. They asked for very specific items. We gods cannot cheat mortals in these types of situations, where we offer a gift and they reply with a very specific item. So, Cadmus Peverell did receive a gift that could reverse death."

Harry's eyes went wide.

"And he was punished for it."

"Yes, his wife wanted to stay dead and—"

"No. That wasn't enough. Hades did not allow him to exist. Even as a soul. Reversing death itself... That is going against the natural order. Hades doesn't take these matters lightly."

"And ol' Nick Flamel's been using the stone to stay alive. How?"

"By using the stone's regenerative powers. He accidentally found the Stone in his travels. Merlin forrced him under oath to never reveal what he truly had. Luckily he is a kind soul. Using his long life only to help others in any way he can."

Harry was confused. "Resurrection Stone has regenerative powers?"

"Yes. It will heal any wound, as it does so while it brings the dead to life. Even a decapitated corpse would not pose a problem."

"I need that stone. To complete Thanatos's Quest."

"I can't give it to you. And Nicholas won't either. He is under oath never to give it up."

Harry sighed. "So the quest is a failure?"

"I am afraid so." Hecate said with a grimace. "You could try and steal it, but you would be condemning the Flamels... Their sustenance is the Elixir, a side effect of consuming it for 6 centuries."

"Well, got that to clear up with Death, I guess."

"I am sure you will figure something out," Hecate smiled. "Now, however, I must leave."

Harry was left alone as soon as she said that.

"Hey!" he yelled, "At least return time to normal!"

* * *

 **A/N: About updates coming up too slow, well I am swamped with a hell lot of work. I can hardly find time for my personal life, much less fanfiction.**

 **The Resurrection Stone switch. This was what I always wondered about the Philosopher's Stone (what Hecate explains). I then wondered what would be the most likely thing to happen if one could use the Resurrection Stone on themselves. What you got was what I put in the chapter.**

 **Will Harry complete the Thanatos's Quest? That is a spoiler, so I won't be answering any such questions.**

 **The Fourth Event. Honestly I was not thinking straight. Hopefully I described it just as I imagined it.**

 **Hope you enjoyed!**

 **Chapter 2 of the Reading Story will be out either this or the next week.**


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